Women's fencing team comes within a whisker of epee gold

Michael Shum

The Hong Kong women's epee fencing team snatched silver after losing by just two points against South Korea in the finals of the Hangzhou Asian Games yesterday.

That brought Hong Kong's medal haul to five golds, eight silvers and 14 bronzes, putting it in fifth place among 45 nations and places and one gold behind fourth-placed Uzbekistan.

The matchup against the South Koreans by our team - made up of Vivian Kong Man-wai, Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan, Chan Wai-ling and Chu Ka-mong - was a nail-biting affair as the game was tied until the fourth rally at 13-13.

South Korea started to build a lead starting from the fifth relay and was up by 29-25 into the final relay, before Kong went on a spectacular run and closed the match to just one point in the closing minutes.

But Kong's magic was still unable to bring victory, as they were eventually beaten 36-34.

This is the first time the Hong Kong women's epee team was able to get to the final. Despite missing gold, the silver still marks the seventh medal for the fencing team in this year's Asiad.

Earlier, the first-seeded Hong Kong men's foil team, led by top fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long, snatched bronze after being edged out by South Korea, who went on to win gold. Alongside Cheung was Ryan Choi Chun-yin, Yeung Chi-ka and Nicholas Choi, who tried to gain the upper hand against the South Koreans despite trailing from the start.

Their repeated attempts at a comeback ultimately proved futile as they succumbed to the South Koreans 45-37.

Choi said he was unhappy with the team's inability to get to the final, but he treats it as a lesson to learn about their strengths and weaknesses and how to improve.

"We're always off to a slow start, which is something we have to work on, and it is also time for us to start studying our opponents' tactics," Choi said.

"We still believe in our teammates and I hope we win next year [in other competitions] and qualify for the Paris Olympics."

Cheung said he was "happy to see the team's growth in technique, mentality and team spirit. Even though we lost, it is something that we are happy about."

Also adding to the medal tally was the windsurfing team, with Ma Kwan-ching snatching silver in the women's iQFoil windsurfing event and Cheng Ching-yin bagging bronze in the men's iQFoil event.

Stephanie Norton also snatched a silver in the women's single dinghy event.

At the Chun'an Jieshou Sports Centre Velodrome, the Hong Kong team made up of Lee Sze-wing, Leung Bo-yee, Leung Wing-yee and Yang Qianyu, snatched bronze in the women's team pursuit event.