Hong Kong’s top fencer Ryan Choi gets year off to solid start with foil World Cup silver
World No 1 follows up a gold medal win in Japan last month with another podium finish in Paris while at home, women’s team attain best finish
Leading Hong Kong fencer Ryan Choi Chun-yin got his new year off to a great start by pocketing silver at the FIE Men’s Foil World Cup in Paris on Saturday.
Having won gold in another World Cup outing in Fukuoka in December, the world No 1 picked up where he left off by beating a pair of Japanese fencers in Yudai Nagano and Kazuki Iimura, as well as Russian Aleksandr Kerik, who was competing without a flag, to set up a quarter-final clash against Filippo Macchi of Italy.
Reigning world champion Choi continued his dominance over the Paris Olympic Games silver medallist, winning 15-9 and maintaining his perfect 4-0 career record against the 24-year-old from Pontedera.
Choi sent another Italian, Giulio Lombardi, packing in the semi-finals with a 15-10 win, but things went awry in the final against Alexander Massialas.
Choi beat Massialas 15-4 in the semi-final in Japan last month, but the American got the better of the Hongkonger in the rematch.
A four-time Olympian and a former silver medallist from Rio de Janeiro, Massialas came back from behind to snatch a 15-10 win.