Vivian Kong ‘ready to challenge’ elite fencers at World Cup series opener in Estonia
- World’s top 20 fencers, including Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Sun Yiwen and No 2-ranked Sera Song, will compete in Estonia this weekend
- Hong Kong will have several competitors looking to start the new season with a win, led by former world No 1 Vivian Kong
Former world No 1 Vivian Kong Man-wai is targeting a podium finish when she returns to her “lucky place” in Tallinn, Estonia this weekend for the opening round of the World Cup series.
Fresh from a four-month break and a runner-up finish at the Challenge Cups Fencing Championships in Hong Kong last weekend, the 28-year-old epeeist said she is “ready to challenge” all of the world’s top fencers at the place where she snatched her first World Cup silver medal in 2018, and a fifth-place finish in 2019.
“Yes, I’m ready for the new season, I have had enough of a break already,” Kong said. “I’m really looking forward to the first World Cup. I love Tallinn – this is where I competed for my two comeback matches after injury in 2018 and 2019.”
The Chinese University law student suffered two serious knee injuries between 2017 and 2019, snapping her left cruciate ligament in 2017 and her right anterior cruciate ligament in 2019 after losing to eventual winner Nathalie Moellhausen in the World Championships semi-finals.
Kong settled for bronze, marking a historic first medal for Hong Kong at the Worlds.
“I haven’t been there in three years because of the pandemic, so I’m hoping to do my best this year,” said Kong, who won her second gold in the regional championships in June.
With the world’s top 20 fencers including Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Sun Yiwen of China and reining champion Sera Song of South Korea competing in the event, Kong expects a tough fight.
Natalie Chan Wai-ling, the Challenge Cups champion who beat Kong in the final by one point, is also in action this season and hopes to break into the top 16 in the world.
“It’s my first win in a local event and first time beating Vivian, it gave me confidence,” said Chan.
The 25-year-old, who was born in Hong Kong and moved to New Zealand at the age of two, returned to represent the city in 2018.
“I want to aim higher for myself. I want to be in the top 16 in the world, and for the World Cup, I want to beat my personal best of 64, so at least 32 or higher,” she said.
Chan, currently ranked No 36, received a boost in the rankings after a third-place finish in the Asian Championships, and a second-round appearance in the Worlds.
There is also a men’s epee World Cup event in Bern, Switzerland, this weekend. Fong Hoi-sun, the world No 29 who became the first Hong Kong male to reach the World Championships quarter-finals this summer and is aiming for the top 16.
“When I lost in the semis of a local tournament [the LCSD Open] in August, I was wondering if the World quarter-finals were just an accident, and if I deserved to be there or not,” Fong said.
The 29-year-old however received a boost after a win at the Challenge Cups and is out to prove that it was “not an accident”.
The men’s foil team, led by Olympic gold medallist Cheung Ka-long and Ryan Choi Chun-yin, will compete in another World Cup leg in Bonn, Germany, this weekend.
