Hong Kong’s hosting nous, crowd support seen as key to locking in fencing Grand Prix spot
FIE decision to have city replace Shanghai on circuit welcomed by athletes, officials after its successful staging of World Championships
Hong Kong could cement its place as a host on fencing’s elite Grand Prix circuit for years to come if everything goes well at an inaugural event next May.
With officials and athletes praising the way the Kerry Fencing World Championships have been staged over the past 10 days at AsiaWorld-Expo, the decision to have the city replace Shanghai on the three-stop circuit alongside Turin and Lima has been welcomed across the sport.
While sources told the South China Morning Post that Shanghai, which has been a long-standing, 10-time host of the Grand Prix since 2011, had “lost the event” because of gradually declining standards, a senior official at the International Fencing Federation (FIE) said the mainland city had decided it would prefer to host a leg on the second-tier World Cup circuit.