Hong Kong fencers Cheung Ka-long and Vivian Kong lay down golden markers for Paris Olympics
- Olympic gold medallist Cheung takes foil title at Grand Prix event in Shanghai
- While épée world No 1 Kong grabs third crown of the season with World Cup victory in UAE
Olympic champion Cheung Ka-long and world No 1 Vivian Kong Man-wai have fired warning shots to their rivals for gold in Paris this summer, winning their respective events this weekend.
Cheung won his second career Grand Prix foil title in Shanghai on Sunday, seeing off the likes of Olympian Ha Taegyu of South Korea, former world champion Alessio Foconi, and African champion Mohamed Hamza on his way to a final against Gerek Meinhardt.
Having beaten Egyptian Hamza 15-11, he then dispatched Meihardt 15-7 in a perfect warm-up for next month’s African and Asian championships, which are the last big competitions before the Paris Olympics start on July 26th.
Kong, meanwhile, solidified her place a the top of the rankings, claiming her third gold of the season with a World Cup win in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.
Having previously won the Grand Prix in Doha and the Barcelona World Cup in January and February respectively, Kong was the only Hongkonger in the main draw in Fujairah, after her teammates all failed to get out of the pool stage.
Victory represented a return to form for the epeeist, who lost in the second round of her previous two events. But having easily dealt with the likes of world No 10 Chen Chen of China, and world No 4 Alberta Santuccio, the 30-year-old then beat Switzerland’s Pauline Brunner 15-10 in the final.