Hong Kong's men's foil team made history on Tuesday by securing their first-ever World Championships team silver medal, falling to world No 1 Italy in a sudden-death decider.
The team of Ryan Choi, Edgar Cheung, Harris Ho and Leung Chin-yu reached the final after beating the United States in the semi-finals. They held a lead for much of the final against Italy, the reigning world champions, but the Italians fought back to edge Hong Kong on a single touch.
Choi, who anchored the team in the final leg, apologised to his teammates after the match and thanked home fans for their support, vowing the team would keep working hard.
Cheung said the team shared responsibility for the result. "First of all, I don't think anyone should say sorry. We're a team. We share everything together. Everyone has their wins and losses. I hope we gave a great match for all the Hong Kong spectators to watch."
He added: "To be honest, the individual events didn't affect me much. Our mindset was always focused on the team event. Today, I'm really happy to have so many Hong Kong people supporting us."
Seventeen-year-old Harris Ho, the world youth champion, said: "I'm really happy because my teammates are so strong. I trust them completely. The cheers from everyone gave us a huge boost. We had tough matches throughout, and no matter whether we were winning or losing, the support was incredible. Thank you all."
Culture, Sports and Tourism Secretary Rosanna Law congratulated the team, praising Choi for competing with an injury, Cheung for being the team's anchor, and Ho for showing no signs of nerves on the world stage.
The United States took bronze after beating Japan. In the women's team epee event, Italy beat Estonia 31-30 in the final, with South Korea taking bronze.
