Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long wins first World Championships medal after finishing joint third in Cairo
- Olympic champion lost in men’s individual foil semi-finals but awarded bronze medal as no playoff for third place required
- Hong Kong has won two medals at the World Championships for the first time, with Vivian Kong also winning bronze in women’s épée
Cheung Ka-long won his first medal at a World Championships after finishing joint third in the men’s individual foil in Cairo on Wednesday, capping off a successful season where he was crowned the Asian champion for the second time and climbed to the top of the world rankings.
The bronze was also the first medal for Hong Kong in the men’s event, after Cheung lost to Tommaso Marini of Italy 15-12 in the semi-finals.
Coupled with another third place for Vivian Kong Man-wai in the women’s individual épée earlier this week, the city’s fencers won two medals at the championships, a result head coach Zheng Zhaokang called “a marvellous achievement”.
“We won two medals at the worlds which would be beyond anyone’s thinking a couple of years ago,” the coach said. “It proves our fencers are making good progress, our programmes are working on the right track.
“Of course it would be great if Cheung had reached the final or even won the gold, but I could not ask for more from him. He was eliminated in the round of 32 at the last World Championships in 2019 and now he is in the top four. What a big improvement.
“All four fencers in the semi-finals are top ranked athletes, wining or losing against each one is possible and the difference is very small.”
Against the 22-year-old Italian, possibly the best among the younger generation of fencers, Cheung could not reproduce the magic he did in the previous round, when the Olympic champion fought back from 14-9 down against Alexander Choupenitch of the Czech Republic to win their quarter-final bout by just one hit 15-14.
