FIE Foil World Cup: Hong Kong’s men’s fencers take maiden title on home soil as Cheung Ka-long finishes job

Hong Kong team triumph only weeks after missing out on place in Paris Olympics

Teenager Leung Chin-yu stars before Olympic individual champion Cheung gets hosts over the line against world No 2 team Italy

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Hong Kong’s men’s foil team win a historic World Cup on Saturday. Photo: FIE

Published: 11:22am, 4 May 2024Updated: 10:53pm, 4 May 2024

A new-look Hong Kong men’s fencing team clinched a historic title as they triumphed in their home FIE Foil World Cup leg on Saturday.

Having only last month missed out on a team berth at this year’s Olympic Games, the hosts defeated world No 2 team Italy 45-41 in the final at the AsiaWorld-Expo. It bettered their previous best World Cup result of second in Russia in 2019.

Teenager Leung Chin-yu was in stunning form, keeping Hong Kong level with the European champions as the more seasoned Ryan Choi Chun-yin and Olympic champion Cheung Ka-long combined to lose their first three bouts.

Trailing 25-17 after the first five rounds, world No 7 Cheung pulled off an 11-5 run to help narrow the gap to two points.

Leung then lost by a point against Guillaume Bianchi, who won the individual title on Friday, but 20th-ranked Choi stepped up, scoring eight points over Filippo Macchi to put Hong Kong 40-38 up.

Leung Chin-yu was instrumental throughout the team event on Saturday. Photo: FIE

Spurred on by deafening cheers, the city’s top fencer Cheung calmly sealed a 5-3 win over Tommaso Marini to lead his team to their maiden title in the series.