Progress of foilist Chan ‘inspiration for women’

Hong Kong teenage fencer urged to aim high after sealing her place at Paris Olympics

Teenage fencer Daphne Chan Nok-sze was urged to maintain her positive attitude and aim to emulate Olympic foil champion Cheung Ka-long after she sealed a spot at the Paris Games.

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 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 the 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. The Hongkonger swept through the pool stage and reached the round of 16, while her Korean rival fell at the first hurdle.

Those results meant 19-yearold Chan became her city’s third women’s foilist to reach an Olympics. Chang Ying-man did so in Athens in 2004, and Lin Po-heung was at the 2012 and 2016 editions in London and Rio de Janeiro.

“Her dedication to hard work [is her strength] and she’s really open-minded,” Koenig said. “She understands and listens to all that the coach tells her. I just want her to stick to the same self-confidence, because it’s never always positive. Sometimes she will be disappointed in some results, but you can either be negative and complain, or keep a positive mind and think about the future.

“Always stay positive; this way you can jump ahead again for the best results. This is exactly what I said to Cheung Ka-long five years ago, and see what happened.”

Cheung won Olympic gold in the men’s individual foil in Tokyo in 2021, becoming only the second Hongkonger in any sport to top a podium at any Games.

Come July 28, Chan will be standing on the piste at the Grand Palais in Paris, awaiting the biggest bout of her career.

“She’s in a period of her life where she starts to understand fencing and starts to understand herself,” Koenig said. “She knows her good points and knows where she is a bit weaker. She really focused on these strong points, and this is why she performed very well in the Asian Games.

“And when you perform very well in this kind of competition, you take a lot of self-confidence.”

Ranked No 29 in the world, Chan is one of three city fencers heading to the Paris Games, alongside Cheung and world No 1 women’s épéeist Vivian Kong Man-wai.