Tokyo Olympics: ‘Champion’ Cheung Ka-long apologised for online trolls, silver medallist Daniele Garozzo says

Three-time world champion Garozzo received backlash for mistakenly taking Cheung’s doll at medal presentation

‘He performed his best fencing in the most important part of his career,’ says Italian of ‘superb’ Hongkonger

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Hong Kong gold medallist Cheung Ka-long (right) fist bumps with Italy’s silver winner Daniele Garozzo at the medal ceremony in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:18pm, 7 Aug 2021Updated: 2:18pm, 7 Aug 2021

Hong Kong golden boy Edgar Cheung Ka-long has finally developed a champion’s mindset, said the man he beat in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games men’s individual foil final.

Daniele Garozzo, a three-time world champion and Rio 2016 gold medallist, was stunned by the 24-year-old at the Makuhari Messe on day three as Cheung became Hong Kong’s second-ever Olympic gold medallist and first of any colour in fencing.

“Cheung was superb. He performed his best fencing in the most important moment of his career. That attitude belongs to champions,” the 28-year-old Garozzo told the Post. The Italian sits at world No 3, one place above the Hongkonger who leapfrogged from 19th to fourth after his historic win.

Garozzo said Cheung’s class went beyond the piste, recounting backlash he received from some “crazy fans” after he unintentionally picked up the wrong-coloured toy doll during the ceremony while talking to International Fencing Federation secretary general Emmanouil Katsiadakis. The medallists exchanged dolls soon after realising.

Hong Kong fencer Cheung Ka-long (left) fights Daniele Garozzo of Italy in the men’s individual foil final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in July. Photo: Reuters

“Absolutely he is [a good role model for Hong Kong]. He is a good guy with great fencing skills. After the final, I received a lot of insults on my socials for mistakenly taking his gold doll. He wrote to me saying that he was very sorry about that. I appreciated that.”

The pair last met at a World Cup event in St Petersburg in 2017, where then-reigning Olympic champion Garozzo beat him in the semi-final. Garozzo went on to win gold, while Cheung earned Hong Kong’s first-ever fencing World Cup medal with a bronze.