Tokyo Olympic champion Cheung Ka-long has called his new world No 1 ranking “a dream come true” and promises to live up to the support at the Plovdiv World Cup on April 29. After finishing fifth in the men’s individual foil at the Belgrade World Cup on Sunday, the Tokyo Olympic champion became Hong Kong’s first foil world No 1 with a total of 200 ranking points, replacing Italian Alessio Foconi atop the global rankings. The 24-year-old fencing sensation wrote on his social media that one of his goals after the Tokyo Olympics was to become the world No 1. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cheung Ka Long 張家朗 (@cheungkalonggggg) “I am very happy and honoured to be the world No 1 after the World Cup in Belgrade,” Cheung wrote. “I would like to thank my team, coaches, and teammates, my parents and family, Hong Kong people and other friends for their support and love, which has made my childhood dream come true.” “I hope that I can give my best in every race in my fencing career and achieve good results to live up to the support I have received from everyone,” Cheung wrote. More than 400 people posted messages of support and congratulations on his social media with one saying, “thank you for bringing so many surprises to the people of Hong Kong.” “I hope you can continue to work hard, to be a good role model to inspire other young athletes,” another fan said. Before returning to Hong Kong in June, the Hongkonger has a busy schedule that includes a World Cup in Bulgaria later this month, the Incheon Grand Prix in mid-May, a Challenge Cup in France, followed by the Asian Championships in Seoul in early June. “As you know, our fencing coach Greg Koenig is from France, and he brought us many new approaches on training, and Ka Long needs more high-level competitions to build him up to be more consistent in the games,” said Hong Kong fencing head coach Zheng Kangzhao. Earlier this week the Hong Kong men’s foil fencing team finished fourth at the Belgrade World Cup. With 28 teams in the competition, Hong Kong – ranked sixth in the world – got off to a flying start by defeating Romania 45-24 in the opening round, and Britain 45-35 in the second round. The big test came in the quarter-finals against world No 4 Japan, whose team included world No 2 Takahiro Shikine and 18-year-old university student Kazuki Iimura, who had stunned top-ranked fencers for an individual bronze medal on Sunday. The Hong Kong quartet of Cheung, world No 6 Ryan Choi Chun-yin, Yeung Chi-ka, and double Asian Games silver medallist Nicholas Choi led all the way and secured a 45-35 victory.