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Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long celebrates after winning against the Russian Kirill Borodachev in the men’s fencing individual foil quarter-final bout during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba City. Photo: AFP

Tokyo Olympics: Cheung Ka-long on brink of history for Hong Kong as incredible charge to podium continues

  • Cheung produces two of the finest performances of his career to book a semi-final spot at 2020 Games
  • The 24-year-old will become Hong Kong’s first Olympic fencing medallist with another win

Follow our live coverage of day three of the Tokyo Olympics here

Edgar Cheung Ka-long produced one of the great performances from a Hong Kong athlete at the Olympic Games on Monday when he completed an incredible fightback at the death to place himself on the brink of history for his home city.

Trailing throughout a thrilling quarter-final showdown in the individual foil against the Russian Olympic Committee’s Kirill Borodachev, Cheung fought back from the cliff-edge to seal a place in the last-four, and in doing so guaranteed a shot at an Olympic medal.

Tokyo Olympics: It‘s gold! Cheung claims historic win for Hong Kong

He will write his name into the history books as Hong Kong’s first Olympic fencing medallist if he prevails in his clash against Czech Republic’s Alexander Choupenitch when they take to the championship piste at 6.20pm (Hong Kong time).

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Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long clinches Olympic gold in historic win at Tokyo Games

Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long clinches Olympic gold in historic win at Tokyo Games

The 24-year-old Cheung, so impressive all day, was uncharacteristically rash during the early part of an intense bout against Borodachev and ceded the momentum to his 21-year-old opponent.

He would never lead the bout until the final touch. The Hong Kong man was growing increasingly frustrated as the Russian repelled all of his attacks and picked him off on the counter attack consistently to move within one touch of the semi-finals at 10-14. But Cheung was not to be denied.

So began a heart-stopping three minutes – extended further for the Hong Kong team in the stands, whose nerves were already shredded, by an inopportune end-of-round break.

Cheung bullied his opponent back down the piste and methodically picked his defence apart to draw level. By that time the Russian was in full panic mode and was being repeatedly backed up as the rangy figure of Cheung descended on him with wave after wave of attack.

Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long (left) clashes with Russia’s Kirill Borodachev. Photo: AFP

When Cheung landed the clinching touch a minute into round two, he threw back his head and let out a howl as his Russian opponent sunk to his knees.

Then, as he has done throughout the day here at the Makuhari Messe Hall B, he loaded his foil into his leather kitbag and strode purposefully away from the piste and past the waiting media straight to the locker room. He looks like a man possessed in Tokyo.

“He is much more mature and stable these days,” said Hong Kong head coach Zheng Kangzhao. “He can control his emotions now. Before, if he was losing by a big margin, he would have just thrown it away. But this time he stayed calm.”

It’s true that this mercurial talent has thrown away big opportunities in the past – most notably at the Asian Games in 2018 when the then-world No 6 and top seed was forced to settle for a bronze after being stunned in the semi-finals.

His quarter-final win here in Tokyo followed hot on the heels of perhaps the greatest performance of the 24-year-old’s career when he destroyed the world’s number one fencer Alessio Foconi, a former world and European champion. It was early proof of Cheung’s re-emergence as the complete fencer, as he dismantled the shell-shocked Italian 15-3.

“He fought a great match against the Italian guy [Foconi] in the previous bout,” Zheng said. “His opponent could do nothing about it.”

Cheung’s steely demeanour has been cultivated in recent months after a number of early career disappointments. He looks determined not to make the same mistakes again.

“It’s the semi-final first and he won’t think too much about the medal,” Zheng added. “I told him not to be interviewed until he finished today. He needs to keep very focused.”

Hopefully the waiting media won’t hear a peep from him until after tonight’s gold medal match.

There was disappointment earlier in the day for Ryan Choi Chun-yin, the Hong Kong No 1, as he went down to Asian Championship gold medallist Takahiro Shikine in a surprise reversal.

“I was aggressive from the beginning and expected him to be the same as he is always aggressive,” Choi said. “But today he stayed calm and watched me from outside.”

“I made a lot of mistakes. Though I made a lot of attempts, I could not find the target. I am not good enough and need more training to improve,” Choi added.

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