Daphne Chan seals foil spot for her debut at Olympics

Hong Kong could send at least three fencers to the Paris Olympics this summer after Daphne Chan Nok-sze secured enough qualifying spots to compete in the individual events.

The teenage foilist was level on points with Sena Hong of South Korea before the Washington Grand Prix, with both battling for the second of two Asia & Oceania individual adjusted official ranking (AOR) spots on offer.

Chan, who turned 19 last week, breezed past the pool stage with a perfect record to reach the main draw, where she beat host fencer Gabrielle Gebala 15-8 to reach the second round. Hong, meanwhile, fell to Jacqueline Dubrovich of the US by the same score in the first knockout round.

The world No 40 Hongkonger went on to defeat Wang Yingying of China 15-9 before bowing out at the round of 16, losing 15-7 to tournament top seed and world No 1 Lee Kiefer of the US, who knocked out Sophia Wu of Hong Kong 15-10 in the first round.

With more points earned in Washington than her only rival, Chan, who won the individual foil bronze medal at last year’s Asian Games, outscored the Korean to snatch the remaining spot and will compete at the Summer Games for the first time in July.

Amita Berthier of Singapore, who ranks 12 places above Chan, also qualified for the Paris Games via the AOR list.

Chan will not be heading to the Games on her own, with foilist Cheung Ka-long and épéeist Vivian Kong Man-wai expected to join their teenage compatriot.

While reigning Olympic champion and world No 1 Cheung remains the city’s only men’s fencer in Paris, Kong, who also sits atop the world rankings, could bring two more teammates with her if Hong Kong stay ahead of China after the World Cup meeting in Nanjing on Friday and Saturday.

Hong Kong are five points ahead of China with Nanjing being the final tournament where teams can score ranking points for the Paris Games.

In the men’s competition in Washington, Cheng Tit-nam, Leung Chin-yu and Ryan Choi Chun-yin were eliminated in the round of 64 while Cheung and Nicholas Edward Choi exited in the round of 32.