Hong Kong fencers take stab at glory

Spearheaded by Olympic champ, team targets record medal haul in Chengdu

Led by Olympic champion Cheung Ka-long, the fencing team from Hong Kong, China boasts its best ever lineup at the FISU University Games, and is bidding to collect its biggest medal haul in the history of the event.

Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan captured the team's first fencing gold medal of the games on Wednesday, defeating Sara Kowalczyk of Italy in the final of the women's epee.

"We brought 20 athletes to compete in all the fencing events at the Chengdu FISU World University Games," Hong Kong fencing coach Wu Siu-cheung told China Daily on the sidelines of the games.

"It is the strongest lineup ever, and we hope to win as many medals as possible."

Hong Kong has sent its largest delegation in the history of the games, with 142 athletes participating in 11 sports, including fencing, table tennis, badminton and wushu, according to the University Sports Federation of Hong Kong.

Olympic fencing gold medalist Cheung is the star. The left-handed foil fencer is a two-time individual Asian champion, two-time Olympian and 2021 individual Olympic champion. He is the first athlete representing Hong Kong, China to win an Olympic gold medal in fencing and the second to become an Olympic champion.

Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, secretary of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said at the flag ceremony for the delegation that the games are important because they allow athletes to compete and communicate with elite counterparts from all over the world.

Fencing coach Wu said some fencers came straight to China from the 2023 World Fencing Championships in Milan, Italy, which ended on July 30, so they needed to recover quickly from the intense competition and lengthy flight so they could take part in the games.

"The fencing competition level at the Chengdu games is very high, as it gathers all the best fencers under a certain age in the world," he said.

Wu is very familiar with the World University Games and believes such a comprehensive international sports event will greatly benefit his athletes.

He participated in the 2005 and 2007 editions of the games as a student-athlete and coached the fencing team in the 2015 and 2017 editions.

"The university games are a large-scale sporting event, and our student-athletes will learn a lot from their experience both in and out of the arenas, such as how to take questions from media," he said.

Sabre fencer Chu Wing-kiu, a 22-year-old linguistics and translation major at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, picked up fencing at age 7 in an extracurricular sports class.

"I saw an illustration of fencing on the wall and thought it looked interesting," she recalled. "I had no idea about the sport at all."

She said she used to partake in sports such as swimming, running and taekwondo, but fencing has fulfilled her the most.

At age 17, Chu became a professional fencer.

"Fencing teaches me to be strong and confident," she said. "I am really happy that I have a group of friends sharing the same goal."

This year is the first time that Chu is participating in the university games, and the first time she has ever visited Chengdu.

"I hope to play my best here," she said.

Sabre fencer Laren Leung Lokman, who is studying sports management at Hong Kong Baptist University, picked up fencing at age 13. She quickly showed a knack for the sport and turned pro when she was 16.

Now 20, she said Hong Kong fencers have had many exchanges with their peers on the Chinese mainland.

"We sometimes go to neighboring Guangdong province to train with them, and we sometimes travel to France together for overseas training programs," she said.

Since Cheung won gold at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in 2021, fencing has become increasingly popular in the special administrative region, according to coach Wu.

"There are now more than 30 fencing clubs in Hong Kong," he said. "It is all because of Cheung. As a homegrown Olympic champion, his success has inspired many Hong Kong parents who want their children to follow his footsteps."

He said there will be more top fencers from Hong Kong in four to five years.