Hong Kong has two rare fencing achievements to celebrate after sixth-former Daphne Chan Nok-sze won gold and the city’s girls’ team took silver at the Junior World Cup in Bangkok at the weekend. The medals were Hong Kong’s first in female categories in the World Cup series and its first of any kind since 2016, when Cheung Ka-long – who has since gone on to be Olympic champion – claimed boys’ individual gold and the boys’ team did likewise. Chan, 17, went undefeated in her six pool matches on her Junior World Cup debut, earning top seeding out of 77 fencers in the knockout stage, where she received a bye in the last 64. The world junior No 17 got off to a flying start in the round of 32, beating Britain’s Katie Castillo-Bernaus 15-6. The real test came next, against Alina Lee of the United States, as the pair went toe to toe before Chan edged it 14-13. After she had defeated teammate Chung Wan-yin 15-13 in the quarter-finals, another two US fencers blocked Chan’s path. But she beat Chen Jia 15-7 in the semis and Katherine Kim 15-11 in the final. Chan missed the team event on Sunday to attend the last day of her school year, but in her absence, the foil quartet of Chung, Liu Hoi-kiu, Lau Yi-heng and Li Chi-wing continued to shine. They defeated Taiwan 45-30 in quarter-finals and Kazakhstan 43-33 in the semis before falling 45-22 to the US in the final. The boys’ foil team of reigning cadet world champion Cheng Tit-nam, Leung Chin-yu, Lam Ho-long and Christian Gabriel Ko finished fifth after beating Australia 45-27 in the first round but losing 41-45 to Britain in the quarters. “Daphne’s and the team’s success is a breakthrough and very encouraging for all young fencers,” Hong Kong head coach Zheng Zhaokang said. “It shows the depth of the women’s foil team, and I expect them to continue making breakthroughs in 2023.” The last and only time Hong Kong fencers had topped the Junior World Cup podium was in Cheung’s day, when he was joined by Ryan Choi Chun-yin, Lee Yat-long and O Chun-yee in the team event. That precedent, and what Cheung has gone on to achieve since, have not been lost on Chan, who hopes to embark on a similar journey. “Ka-long is my role model,” she said. “He shows us that if we work hard enough, we can compete in big events like him in the future. “The gold medal is a great end to this year’s competitions. It has confirmed my passion for fencing and hardened my intention to pursue my dreams in a fencing career.” The St Paul’s Co-Educational College student has had a busy past two months, competing in five tournaments and finishing second in a satellite event in Singapore. She is already ranked Hong Kong’s No 2 in foil at adult level. But she is having to balance that with her studies, with a public university admission examination – the DSE (Diploma of Secondary Education) – coming up early next year. “I’ve been putting equal emphasis on both academia and training, and learning to maintain a good balance between the two,” she said. “As a fencer, I hope to continue representing Hong Kong and competing in world-class competitions. As a student, I hope to do well in my DSE.”