Olympics 2024: meet the Hong Kong women’s fencer being urged to emulate city’s Tokyo gold medallist Cheung Ka-long
- Teenage foilist Daphne Chan hailed as ‘inspiration for all Hong Kong female fencers’ after sealing her place at Paris Games
- Coach’s advice to Chan is ‘exactly what I said to Cheung Ka-long five years ago, and see what happened’
Teenage fencer Daphne Chan Nok-sze is being urged to maintain her positive attitude and aim to emulate Cheung Ka-long, after she sealed a spot at the Paris Olympics.
Hong Kong’s foil head coach Gregory Koenig sees Chan’s progress in recent months as inspiration for the city’s women athletes, and wants her to push on after she clinched qualification for Paris last month.
She had already shot to prominence when she reached the semi-finals at last year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou to earn an unexpected bronze medal.
“It is clear Hong Kong fencers are talented,” Frenchman Koenig said. “We have some men’s foilists who already showed absolutely everything.
“Now we show to every woman that they also can succeed in Hong Kong. It’s an inspiration for all Hong Kong female fencers to understand that if they work hard, they can do it. It gives a positive mind to every woman, so this is something great.”
Chan was level on points with Sena Hong of South Korea as they arrived at last month’s Grand Prix in Washington both chasing the second of two Asia and Oceania individual spots for Paris.
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