Hong Kong épée fencers struggle at Qatar Grand Prix as foil star Cheung Ka-long warms up in local French competition

Epeeists Kong, Hsieh and Fong bow out in round of 32 in Doha despite impressive displays in group games

Cheung reaches quarters in makeshift Paris event as foil team prepare for Egypt Grand Prix next month

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Hong Kong foil fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long in the men’s individual foil event final against Edoardo Luperi of Italy at the FIE World Cup in France. Photo: FIE

Published: 9:08pm, 31 Jan 2022

Hong Kong épée star Vivian Kong Man-wai’s campaign to return to world No 1 this year got off to a tepid start as she finished 17th overall at the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday.

The 27-year-old Kong, who won the city’s first-ever fencing World Cup title in Cuba in 2019, fell to world No 62 Pauline Brunner of Switzerland 15-11 in the round of 32 having impressed in the group games in Doha.

Promising teammate Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan, 20, bowed out in the same round after losing a truncated match against Nelli Differt 12-7. The Estonian went on to win silver.

Meanwhile, fellow Tokyo 2020 Olympians Coco Lin Yik-hei and Moonie Chu Ka-mong finished 83rd and 86th overall, respectively, while Chan Tsz-ching (88), Chan Wai-ling (104) and Shams Wong (116) also struggled in the preliminaries.

In the men’s competition, team leader Fong Hoi-sun lost to Kazakh Ruslan Kurbanov 15-12 in the round of 32, while Cedric Ho Wai-hang struggled against Czech Republic’s Martin Rubes, losing 15-11 in the previous round.

Fong, 29, finished 30th overall, with Ho 45th, and teammates Ng Ho-tin 70th, Ng Ting-hin 85th and Clarence Lai Ka-tsun 149th.