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Cheung Ka-long (left) in action against Gerek Meinhardt of the United States in the semi-finals. Photo: International Fencing Federation

Fencing: Cheung Ka-long finds form at last with runner-up finish at Grand Prix in Busan

  • Hong Kong’s Cheung loses to Italy’s Alessio Foconi in his first Grand Prix final in four years
  • His best placing of the season comes with the qualification period for the 2024 Paris Olympics set to begin next month
Fencing

Hong Kong fencer Cheung Ka-long shrugged off his recent dip in form to manage his best result of the year so far with second place at the Grand Prix in Busan, South Korea.

Now world No 6 after topping the rankings last year, Cheung looked more like his old self on Sunday, weeks after losing in the opening round of the World Cup series in Cairo.

In his first final of the season, 25-year-old Cheung found himself on the back foot against veteran Alessio Foconi, the world No 4 from Italy. It proved a tougher assignment for the Hongkonger than in his most recent three bouts with Foconi, which he had won easily.

He tied the bout at 13 apiece but lost the next two points as his opponent took victory to edge 4-3 ahead in their career head-to-head.

Cheung Ka-long’s final in Busan ended a run of disappointing results. Photo: International Fencing Federation

Cheung had received a bye in the round of 64 and soon found himself in the last eight after seeing off Giulio Lombardi of Italy and Kim Gyeongmu of South Korea.

Reigning Olympic champion Cheung then faced Takahiro Shikine of Japan, who had knocked out Hong Kong’s world No 14 Ryan Choi Chun-yin 15-7 in the round of 32.

Cheung avenged his teammate’s exit by seeing off Shikine 15-12, before repeating that scoreline to outlast Gerek Meinhardt of the United States in their semi-final.

That sent him into the second Grand Prix final of his career, having previously reached one in Turin in 2019.

While he progressed deep into the draw, the rest of the Hong Kong contingent did not. They must now seek to emulate Cheung by finding some form before the qualification cycle for the 2024 Paris Olympics begins in April.

Hong Kong had competed in the Olympic men’s foil team event for the first time in Tokyo in 2021, finishing seventh. They sent 12 fencers to the individual event in Busan, 10 of whom – all except Cheung and Choi – had to start from the pool stage.

Kyle Chan and Chiu Man-to were the only two who made it to the knockout stages, but both fell at the first hurdle.

Three-time Asian Games medallist Nicholas Choi and Tokyo Olympics representatives Lawrence Ng Lok-wang and veteran Cheung Siu-lun all failed to progress.

Fencers can accumulate individual points from next month until April 2024, with the World Cup in Mexico in May being the first qualification event, followed by the Grand Prix series in Shanghai later that month.

Hong Kong can qualify for Paris as a team in two ways: as one of the top four in the world by next April, or the leading Asian team if the continent is not in the top four. They currently lie sixth.

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