Tokyo Olympics 2020: Hong Kong needs a helping hand from South Korea for women’s épée team to qualify for Games
- Kazan is the last épée Olympic qualifying event, but Hong Kong won’t be going due to the pandemic
- If South Korea can improve their ranking and get into the top four, Hong Kong can also gain a team place for Tokyo this summer
Hong Kong will not send a women’s épée team to this month’s fencing Kazan World Cup due to health concerns, but hope rivals South Korea can lend the city a hand by helping Vivian Kong Man-wai’s team qualify for the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
The Russian event remains the last qualifying competition of the discipline for the 2020 Games, which was suspended from last year because of the global pandemic outbreak. As a result, Hong Kong will not be able to improve on their Olympic qualification rankings of 14th despite the presence of leading fencer Kong, a bronze medallist at the 2019 World Championships.
The Sports Institute, where the elite fencers are based, has recommended local fencers not to attend the Kazan event, due to kick off on March 20 as there’s still a risk of travelling and athletes may not have sufficient protection from Covid-19 in the Russian city.
“This is the decision after reviewing the safety conditions there,” said Hong Kong fencing head coach Zheng Zhaokang. “We still have a chance of qualifying an épée team to the Tokyo Games, if the South Koreans can do us a big favour.
“Of course, we are quite passive under this situation but there is little we can do.”
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South Korea are sixth in the qualification and if they can reach the top four with good results in Kazan, Hong Kong will benefit by qualifying for 2020 Tokyo as the best Asian/Oceania team ranked 5th-16th.
The Koreans are sending their best fencers to the event, but it is not known how eager they want to achieve good results as they will qualify as a team regardless of where they finish in Kazan.
If Hong Kong fail to enter a team to Tokyo, the individual berth for Kong will not be affected as she is ranked seventh. The top two fencers in the region, who do not have a team qualification, can enter the individual event at the 2020 Games.
Despite the resume of international competitions, Hong Kong will not be sending a team to two other fencing events of this month – the sabre World Cup in Budapest and the foil Grand Prix in Doha, also because of health concerns. They had plans to go to Doha but the Sports Institute decided over the weekend they should give the event a miss after another review of the situation in the Middle East nation.
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Although there is no chance of a Hong Kong fencer gaining direct Olympic qualification in sabre, the Tokyo hopefuls are holding keen internal competition for the sole place to appear in the zone qualification tournament, their last hope of booking a place in the Tokyo Games. The women’s foilists and the men’s epeeists also face the same situation. The men’s foil team have already qualified for Tokyo after an impressive run in the qualification last year when they finished fifth in the campaign.
The Fencing Association has decided the highest ranked fencer in the individual discipline will represent Hong Kong in the zonal qualification, due to kick off next month with the venue to be decided.
