City’s fencers fire warning shots to rivals for Paris gold
Olympic medallist Cheung takes Grand Prix title in Shanghai, while Vivian Kong reigns 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 over the weekend.
Cheung won his second career Grand Prix foil title in Shanghai yesterday, 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 at the top of the rankings, claiming her third gold of the season with a World Cup win in the United Arab Emirates.
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.
Elsewhere, in the men’s sabre World Cup in Madrid, Royce Chan Lok-hei came within a win of his first senior medal, but his 15-9 loss to eventual silver medallist Ha Hansol of South Korea, still represented a career-best finish for the 20-year-old.
Antonio Lam Hin-chung, the Hong Kong team manager, praised Chan for his resilience.
“He may not be really outstanding in his junior events, but he’s also a top eight in the World Championships and finished second in the Asian Championships,” Lam said.
“Chan has always demanded a lot of himself, he’s confident, so I am really happy to see him grow. I believe he’s on course for further breakthroughs in terms of his results.”