COACH CONFIDENT IN TEAM’S FUTURE

Koenig defends men’s squad as Tokyo gold medallist Cheung Ka-long goes it alone in Paris Olympics

Coach Gregory Koenig said he remained confident about the future of the city’s men’s fencers despite only one of them, defending champion Cheung Ka-long, clinching a place at the Olympic Games this summer.

The foil head coach refused to blame the qualification criteria for Hong Kong’s modestly sized Paris-bound contingent, with teams ranked lower in the world having been handed a spot so that all continents are represented.

Koenig maintained his team had produced a strong season overall.

“I think we made one of the best seasons of all time for Hong Kong,” the Frenchman said. “We finished with podiums in the World Championships [in Italy] and the World Cup [in Japan].

“When you have [opponents] like France or Italy or China or Japan, to finish No 6 in the world is quite nice for Hong Kong.”

Having finished seventh in their debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021, the foil team were beaten to a place this time by China.

At the qualification cut-off earlier this month, they ranked just one spot behind their mainland counterparts, who claimed the only berth available for an Asia or Oceania team ranked outside the world’s top four.

“I really wanted to qualify the team,” he said. “Because I want all the Hong Kong fencers, in particular Cheung and Ryan [Choi Chun-yin], who have a good ranking, to have the chance to do something at the Olympics.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t qualify this time and there are some teams, like Canada, who qualified despite being No 14 in the world. But these are the rules we agreed with, so we have to follow them.

“We always complain when the rules are against us. It doesn’t help us this time, but I am pretty sure it will help us in the future.”

Nations and regions that do not qualify for the team event are permitted to take only one fencer per weapon for the corresponding individual event at the Games.

That means that Cheung, the individual Olympic gold medallist in Tokyo in 2021, will be the only men’s foilist donning the city’s flag at Grand Palais on July 29.

Choi is the next highest-ranked

Asian foilist among teams that have not qualified, but the 26-year-old had to be left out, with the quota place going instead to Ha Taegyu of South Korea, who is two places behind in the world rankings at No 20.

“We know the rules since the beginning,” Koenig said.

“I think the International Olympic Committee wants to make it more worldwide. They want more countries all over the world to qualify for the Games.

“I am not in [fencing governing body] the FIE or the Olympic committee, so I never thought about this. It takes enough time for me to think how to put my athletes in the best situation under the rules.”

That includes having a closer look at a younger crop of emerging fencers, and the 45-year-old believes the city is blessed with talent at several age levels.

“We have a lot of young fencers who are very strong as well, so I am really confident for the future,” he said. “We are still in the process of identifying a third fencer [to support Cheung and Choi in high-level competitions].

“But with all the youngsters who just competed and triumphed in the team events at the Cadet and Junior Asian Championships, I am sure we will use more young fencers and I am pretty sure we will be able to qualify the team for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.”