Paris Olympics: Cheung Ka-long ‘can defeat everybody’ as he eyes repeat fencing gold
- Defending the crown would be a rare feat in foil fencing for the Hongkonger who is aiming to triumph as he did in Tokyo in 2021
Cheung Ka-long can “defeat absolutely everybody”, according to his coach, as the Hongkonger prepares to defend his Olympic gold medal in Paris.
One of the city’s generational sporting talents, Cheung is looking to become only the third men’s foilist to defend his Olympics crown when he takes the piste at the Grand Palais at 7.35pm Hong Kong time on Monday.
Sports Illustrated contributor Brian Cazeneuve did not fancy the 27-year-old’s podium chances, predicting medals for world No 1 Tommaso Marini of Italy, Japan’s top foilist Kyosuke Matsuyama and United States’ world No 2 Nick Itkin, the man inspiring the Hongkonger to unprecedented glory in Japan three years ago had other ideas.
“I don’t know if they use AI [artificial intelligence] to make this kind of prediction or not,” Greg Koenig said. “Maybe AI is right, maybe not, it’s complicated.
“What I’m able to tell you is, if Cheung is on a good day, not on an amazing day, he can defeat absolutely everybody. If when he wakes up things are a bit confused and he doesn’t feel very good, it can be another story.”
Cheung has shown before that arriving as the top-ranked fencer does not guarantee Olympic success. He was ranked No 19 and thrashed the world’s top foilist Alessio Foconi of Italy 15-3 in the round of 16 in Tokyo en route to his gold medal.
