Tokyo Olympics: Fencer Kaylin Hsieh comes out of quarantine to win the President’s Cup
- The 20-year-old becomes the new women’s épée champion after completing a 14-day quarantine upon her return from the United States
- She says it’s a dream come true for her to qualify for the Olympics at such a tender age
Having spent 14 days in quarantine upon her return to Hong Kong from the United States, Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan was eager to show how much she has improved. Her patience was rewarded on Saturday when she won the women’s épée event at the President’s Cup, fighting her way into the final before handing Hong Kong teammate Lin Yik-hei a 15-8 defeat in the final.
Competing in the absence of Hong Kong number one Vivian Kong Man-wai, who gave the tournament a miss at Hong Kong Park Sports Centre, the 20-year-old Hsieh is an up-and-coming young fencer who helped her college, Notre Dame, clinch their 11th title at the American Collegiate Fencing Championships in March.
“I just completed my quarantine yesterday and was told by the [health] authority that I could take part in this event,” said the champion, who celebrated her birthday last month.
While spending 14 days in quarantine, Hsieh said she was not in tip-top shape but had kept her condition that proved too much for her rivals on Saturday.
“I didn’t have too much preparation and only had some physical training on an ergo bike in my hotel room. But still it’s so nice coming back to Hong Kong to compete against so many familiar faces. In fact, winning the title is not the most important, it’s how you execute your attack or defence as each movement counts.”
Hong Kong women’s épée fencing team qualifies for Tokyo
Hsieh received two Covid-19 jabs in the United States after her college distributed vaccine to all their students and teaching staff members.
Hsieh, who went to the United States last summer to start her university studies, said she had become more patient after making her fencing debut in the American Collegiate Championships at State College in Pennsylvania where she also won a silver medal in the épée individual event.
“It’s too early to say if I have made any changes to my game after spending only a year in the States but I have learned to be more patient in competition. You have to take it match by match and treat every match seriously,” she said. “It will be the same at the Olympics. I won’t think too much about my target but I will just try to do my best in every action.”
Vivian Kong achieves historic fencing bronze; dedicates it to people of Hong Kong
Hsieh will return to training at the Sports Institute in preparation for the Tokyo Games and her coach, Octavian Zidaru, believes Hong Kong has a good medal chance in top fencer Kong when they start competition in the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba on July 24.
“She [Kong] has had no competition for a long time but this will not weaken her chances at the Olympics,” said the Romanian. “The world governing body has cancelled most of the events because of coronavirus but we do have the advantage of focusing on training and training with our men’s team who have a good level.
“Kong has improved in every department, physically, mentally and tactically. In fact, the delay of the Olympic Games has given her more time to recover from her knee injury. If the Games had taken place a year ago, she might not have had sufficient time to heal from her injury.”
Kong did not take part in the President’s Cup because she was afraid there would be too many people gathering during the pandemic. Her coach also said that she didn’t need this competition at her level.
