“It was too passive and we had to wait for the results of others to find out if we could qualify for the Olympic Games,” Kong said. “We don’t want to see this happen for Paris,” she said.

The 29-year-old said while her own results had been “encouraging so far” there was still room for improvement, but with Olympic qualification starting in April her main focus was on ensuring the team made it “on our own efforts”.

“This is going to be very tough as we have South Korea and China in Asia who are both top teams in the world, but our squad has been making strong progress especially with more young fencers coming through the ranks. We will definitely try our best,” he said.

South Korea won the silver medal in the team épée at the Games in Japan, while China’s Sun Yiwen took gold in the individual event.

Kong has enjoyed a flying start to the season, which began in November, reaching the final in the World Cup series in Vancouver and the semi-finals at the Grand Prix in Doha. She also made it to the last eight in both World Cup series stops in Estonia and Spain.

“There is always stiff competition among the fencers and épée has become more and more physical these days,” said Kong, who reached the pinnacle of the world rankings in 2019 after she clinched a bronze medal at the World Championships in Budapest.

“I always fell on the floor after some fierce encounters and have to be more strong and powerful against my opponents. I also need more variation in my attack if I want to go further on the international stage.”

Hong Kong are currently a team-high seventh in the rankings, while South Korea remain top and China sixth. Other than Kong, the city’s squad includes the fast improving Chan Wai-ling in the top 40, while Coco Lin Yik-hei, Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan and Moonie Chu Ka-mong are all near the top 100.

Hsieh, who won gold for the University of Notre Dame at last year’s NCAA Fencing Championships, would be higher in the rankings but for her college commitments and the impact of Covid-19 on travel.

The three regional powerhouses will test each other out at the Asian Games later this year, and Kong is determined to do better than the individual and team bronze she collected at the Jakarta Games in 2018.

She also said the squad would not think too much about the possible inclusion of Russian and Belarus fencers at the multi-sport competition in Hangzhou.

“This something out of the control as an athlete and I have also asked the advice from our coach,” she said. “But he only told us to focus on our training and forget about things other than that.”

Kong was supposed to face a Russian opponent in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup series in Sochi last February, but the tournament was called off after Russia invaded Ukraine the same week. Since then, Russian and Belarus fencers have been banned from international competition.