Quarantine worth it for fencer Ryan Choi after fifth-place effort in Doha yields top 10 world ranking
- The foilist finishes 5th in the FIE-sanctioned event, his first taste of competition in one year because of Covid-19 disruptions
- The 23-year-old must now spend 21 days alone in a Kowloon City hotel but he says the chance to compete overseas and break into the top 10 made it worthwhile
Fencer Ryan Choi Chun-yin said a first-ever top-10 ranking was worth the sacrifice as he spends 21 days in quarantine after returning from a successful tournament in Doha, Qatar.
The 23-year-old finished fifth at the FIE foil Grand Prix - his first taste of competition in a year - helping him rise to eighth in the world from his previous 12 and become the only Asian ranked in the top 10.
Choi, who returned to Hong Kong on Monday, must now wait out his 21 days of quarantine but he felt the entire journey was worth the effort as he looks forward to the Tokyo Games as part of the men’s foil team.
“We all felt excited about the event because it had been exactly one year since we last competed, in the United States,” said Choi, who is serving his quarantine in a Kowloon City hotel. “We don’t know if the event may be the last one before the Olympics but it’s good to have had the opportunity to test ourselves against the world’s best.
“We put in a lot of training during the past 12 months even when the Sports Institute was closed down and it was good that we could prove it in a real competition. We had a good feeling in Doha. I have made improvements, becoming more patient and matured than before.”
There are two more events scheduled before the 2020 Tokyo Games - a Grand Prix in Shanghai in mid May and the Asian Championships in June with the venue yet to be confirmed. Both tournaments, however, look uncertain because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Choi said spending three weeks alone in quarantine in a hotel room was not easy, being restricted to limited forms of fitness training.
“We just learned that the hotel quarantine can be shortened to 14 days if we return from a low-risk country but unfortunately we are not under the new rules,” he said.
“Being quarantined will definitely affect our training because the only thing we can do in a hotel room is basic fitness workouts. And we can also watch some footage of other fencers to understand them more. It’s a heavy price to pay but that’s the regulations and we have to accept it if we want to travel overseas for competitions.”
Tokyo 2020: Hong Kong fencing team one step from making historic Olympic appearance
The promising fencer also played down his achievement to breaking into the world’s top 10. “I feel happy but the new ranking may only give me a better draw in the individual event at the Tokyo Olympics. I don’t mind if my ranking drops down to 30th if I can win an Olympic medal.”
Meanwhile, Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan, a member of the Hong Kong women’s épée team, won the silver medal at an NCAA fencing competition representing Notre Dame. Hsieh fell on the final touch of the championship bout as she lost to Laura Fekete, of Long Island University, 14-13.
She was joined on the podium by teammate Miriam Grady, who tied for third place. But the Hong Kong fencer was still able to help the “Fighting Irish” to their 11th NCAA fencing championship.
