Tokyo Olympics: Cheung Ka-long makes history for Hong Kong with fencing gold
- ‘I beat an Olympic champion to become an Olympic champion. Before the draw was made, I knew I might meet him,’ says 24-year-old
- Chief Executive Carrie Lam praises his ‘composure and fighting spirit’, while 1996 heroine Lee Lai-shan is ‘so happy there is finally another gold medallist’
Cheung, 24, can now lay claim to being the finest foil fencer in the world after destroying the defending Olympic champion, Italy’s Daniele Garozzo, in an incredible run to the top of the podium.
Hong Kong have won only two other Olympic medals – a silver for Li Ching and Ko Lai-chak in the men’s table tennis doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympics and track cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze’s bronze in the keirin at the 2012 London Games. The 34-year-old Lee is a leading medal hope in the sprint and keirin in Tokyo next week.
“I beat an Olympic champion to become an Olympic champion!” Cheung said. “Before the draw was made, I knew I might meet him. I joked then with my coach that if I could beat an Olympic champion, I should call myself an Olympic champion.”
“He lost to a left-hander recently and I watched the footage to study and beat him,” Cheung said.
