Hong Kong teenager Cheng Tit-nam was crowned cadet foil world champion in Dubai on Wednesday, following in the footsteps of Olympic champion Cheung Ka-long. After a disappointing 32nd finish in the U20 of the 2022 Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships in Dubai the day before, Cheng made it all the way to win the U17 title in a clean sweep. The DBS Form-five student-foilist, who won all six group matches, dominated his way through to get himself a spot in the finals where he defeated Germany’s Ruben Lindner 15-7. “Of course, I’m very excited, and I have fulfilled my promise to myself from a few years ago in 2019 when I lost in an early round in Poland at this same event. “I said to myself that I’m going to be on that podium and get that gold, and I did it. I was tired after fencing in the juniors yesterday, but I told myself to be calm and not nervous. I trusted myself,” said Cheng, who pushed hard to reach the top of the podium in a field of more than 100 fencers. It is the fourth junior and cadet world fencing champion from Hong Kong, including girls’ sabre Karen Chang Ngai-hing in 2013, boys’ foil Edgar Cheung Ka-long in 2017 and girls’ épée Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan in 2018. The 17-year-old, who clinched an individual cadet gold at the Tashkent Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships in February, has been training with the Hong Kong elite senior squad in Europe since January. Zheng Kangzhao, Hong Kong’s fencing head coach, believes Cheng benefited from the non-stop training and competitions in Europe, and is happy to see there is no problem of succession. “I have been the fencing head coach since 2011, I am keen on long-term succession planning. Ten years ago, Edgar Cheung Ka-long, Ryan Choi Chun-yin, Vivian Kong Man-wai were all kids fencers, and today they are all household names with their remarkable achievement. “It is the same as with our junior teams; there are many potentially talented fencers in all categories, and Cheng is one of them. “He impressed me when he was even younger, he has speed, strong attack, a lot of agility, and he’s versatile, so I’m very optimistic about his future,” said Zheng. The strength of the fencing squad was shown in the Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships in February, when the Hong Kong junior team won nine gold, five silver, and eight bronze medals, including four from individuals. The boys’ foil team impressed the other countries by finishing top three, with Leung Chin-yu the champion, Lucas Brendan Choy as second and Cheng Tit-nam as third.