HK fencer Vivian Kong bags gold in thrilling epee contest, Cheung defends men’s foil crown

Twelve-year-old Hong Kong fencing beginner Lloyd found a new role model over the weekend — “Sword Queen” Vivian Kong Man-wai, who clawed back a 7-1 deficit in the women’s epee final to win Olympic gold in Paris.

“I woke up to the pleasant surprise of Vivian Kong (winning),” Lloyd told reporters on July 29 at a fencing school in the Central district of Hong Kong, China.

On July 27, the 30-year-old Kong became only the third Hong Kong athlete in history to have a gold medal draped around her neck after beating France’s Auriane Mallo-Breton in front of a fiercely partisan crowd at the Paris Games.

She won 13-12 in the most thrilling fashion, a final, sudden-death point securing victory in the nail-biting contest, after it finished tied at 12-12 after regulation time.

“It was very inspiring. It was just very nice to see the spirit she had,” said Lloyd before starting his fencing class.

“She did not give up, she kept having to climb her way up. She chased the challenge and managed to get the gold medal,” he said. “I was very happy for Hong Kong.”

Later on July 29, in Paris, fellow fencer Cheung Ka-long took home the gold medal in the final bout of the men’s individual foil — successfully defending the title he won at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

In a nail-biting contest, Cheung triumphed over Italy’s Filippo Macchi, making history as he became Hong Kong’s first athlete to win two Olympic gold medals..

Kong joins Cheung and windsurfer Lee Lai-shan at Atlanta 1996 as Hong Kong’s only Olympic champions.

Kong, a graduate of Stanford University in the United States, has battled back twice from torn cruciate ligaments, one in each knee, to rise to world No 1 and achieve Olympic glory.

In a tearful post-match interview at the Grand Palais — a 124-year-old exhibition hall that Paris transformed into an Olympic venue — Kong said that fencing “in such a beautiful palace was one of my dreams”.

“I didn’t want to lose so miserably,” she said about her fightback from the six-point deficit.

“I didn’t want to give up without demonstrating the Hong Kong spirit in my fight.”

United States First Lady Jill Biden and Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger were both in attendance at the July 27 game.

Mallo-Breton had kept the home crowd on tenterhooks during her progress to the final, not least when she was 13-10 down with 36 seconds remaining in her last-32 match.

However, she somehow managed to defeat her crestfallen Ukrainian opponent Dzhoan Bezhura 14-13.

In the final, though, the Frenchwoman found being in front, and the weight of expectation, too much, and Kong was transformed after she had changed her epee.

“I was using the same epee through all my bouts, but Auriane was my first left-handed opponent, so I decided to use a different epee. I was out of solutions,” said Kong.

Mallo-Breton held her lead until Kong leveled at 10-10, and then the contest became edgier.

With neither wanting to make a fatal error, they ran the clock down with the pair tied at 12-12.

Mallo-Breton realized the game was up as world No 1 Kong got the decisive touch in sudden death, prompting the Frenchwoman to turn her back and hold her head in her hands.

Defending champion Sun Yiwen of the Chinese mainland was knocked out in her opening bout by Japan’s Miho Yoshimura on July 27 in a major shock on the first day of the fencing at the Paris Olympics.

The two were locked at 13 touches each after the regulation three periods of 3 minutes, and 43rd-ranked Yoshimura was declared the winner in sudden-death overtime after Sun’s complaint that she was not even hit this time was rejected.

The impact of Kong’s win was immediate in Hong Kong, said Lau Kwok-kin, a retired Olympian who now teaches fencing at the school where Lloyd trains in a class of about six youngsters, only one of which is a girl.

Lau said that the school has received more calls from parents of young girls since Kong’s victory.

Lau was the first fencer to represent Hong Kong at the Olympics — competing in 2004 and 2008 — and the 47-year-old attributed Kong’s success to the systematic training provided by the Hong Kong Sports Institute.

Lau added that the training plan for an elite athlete now covers “everything from retreat, practicing competition techniques and physical conditioning”.

“It is a much more professional model than what we had before — that’s why the performances are now better.”