Tokyo Paralympics: Alison Yu Chui-yee knocked out by China’s Rong Jing in the women’s individual foil

The 37-year-old bows out at quarter-final despite promising wins in the preliminary bouts
Last chance for Yu, Ng and Chung to win a Tokyo medal lies in the team foil event on Sunday

Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

Andrew McNicol

Published: 4:01pm, 28 Aug 2021

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Hong Kong’s biggest Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games fencing medal hope Alison Yu Chui-yee lost to reigning champion Rong Jing again – this time in the women’s individual foil category A quarter-final on Saturday.

The 37-year-old Yu had qualified for the knockout rounds after finishing in the top four in the overall pool rankings but the lost to China’s Rong 10-15 at the Makurahi Messe.

Yu, an Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 foil gold medallist, was seeded fourth, one place higher than Rong. But it seemed Rio 2016 foil gold medallist Rong had her number in both disciplines having won in the individual épée quarter-final on Thursday (11-15) – which Yu called a “disappointing” result.

Rong had also beaten Yu in the Rio 2016 foil final five years ago, handing 11-time medallist Yu her first Paralympic defeat in 12 years. This means Yu’s only chance of collecting a medal in her fifth consecutive Games is in the team foil event on Sunday.

Hong Kong’s Yu (left) against Nataliia Mandryk of Ukraine in the women’s épée individual category A round of 16 at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan. Photo: Reuters

The early exit came as a surprise to many as Yu appeared to be in good form having beaten Ionela Andreea Mogos of Italy (5-1), Mieko Matsumoto of Japan (5-0), Nataliia Mandryk (5-0) and Gvantsa Zadishvili of Georgia (5-2) earlier in the day. Her only preliminary round loss came via Hungarian No 2 seed Zsuzsanna Krajnyak (2-5).

Teammate Justine Charissa Ng, who bowed out of the last-16 épée to Krajnyak days earlier, lost at the same stage in the foil to another Hungarian in Eva Andrea Hajmasi (10-15). The pair had competed in the preliminaries, where Hajmasi won 5-1.

Hong Kong's Justine Charissa Ng (left) in the women's individual épée category A group game at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Photo: Hong Kong Paralympic Committee

Ng, who like Yu was part of the silver medal-winning épée trio from Rio 2016, narrowly qualified for the round of 16 event despite losing three of four preliminary games to Hajmasi, Nino Tibilashvili of Georgia (4-5) and Gu Haiyan of China (0-5), before saving her best performance for last against No 6 seed Alena Evdokimova of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) to win 5-2.

Meanwhile, Irene Chung Yuen-ping did not qualify for the knockout rounds after an uncharacteristically poor showing in the individual foil category B.

Despite beating Monica Santos of Brazil in her opening bout (5-4), the No 9 seed lost her remaining five against Irma Khetsuriani of Georgia (0-5), Chisato Abe of Japan (2-5), Ludmila Vasileva of the RPC (3-5), Xiao Rong of China (2-5), and Beatrice Maria Vio of Italy (2-5).

Hong Kong's Irena Chung Yuen-ping (left) against the Russian Paralympic Committee’s Alena Evdokimova in Tokyo in Japan. Photo: Hong Kong Paralympic Committee

After the trio lost in the women’s épée team bronze medal matc h on Thursday, they and coaches Chen Weijing and He Taishun will be completely focused on a better outing in the team foil.