June 15-20, 2017
Hong Kong
The Asian Fencing Championships, which have just ended, were held at the very impressive Asia World Expo in Hong Kong. The venue was conveniently located, close to the two (2) official hotels and Hong Kong International Airport. The Sky Marriot Hotel is connected to the venue by a bridge walkway and the Regal Airport Hotel, which is connected to the Airport, is a mere 5 minute bus ride from the venue.
The Championships were very well organized. The venue was spacious and well suited for international quality competitions. It was able to accommodate ten (10) pistes for the preliminary round and had a separate area for the coloured pistes and podium. Because it was a convention centre, stands had to be installed. There was also a separate training area with four (4) pistes and an area for vendors of fencing equipment and souvenirs. Ample food concessions were also located around the venue.
It was no surprise that this year’s zonal championships, was dominated by the Koreans. Save for one individual gold medal from Chinese woman foilist, Huo Xiangxian and Men’s epee fencer from Kazakhstan, Ruslan Kurbanov, the Koreans clearly dominated the individual events.
The Men’s Individual Sabre event was an all Korea and Iran finals when two Koreans and two Iranians made up the top four finalists. Gu Bongil, Gold medallist at the London Olympics, eventually came out on top beating Iranian Mohammad Rahbari in the gold medal match. The bronze medals were won by Ali Pakdaman (IRI) and Kim Junho (KOR)
Meanwhile, the Women’s Individual Sabre was an all Korea final. Kim Jiyeon came out the eventual winner after beating team mate, Seo Jiyeon 15-11 in the finals. The bronze medals were shared by Misaki Emura (JPN) and Yu Xinting (CHN).
In Men’s Individual Epee, Ruslan Kurbanov the fencer from Kazakhstan currently ranked 28th, beat 7th ranked Kweon Youngjun (KOR) 15-10. The bronze medals went to two other Koreans, Jung Jinsun and Park Kyoungdoo.
In Women’s Individual Epee, Kan Young Mi (KOR) beat recent Bogota GP silver medallist, Kong Man Wai Vivian (HKG) for the gold medal after a very close bout that ended at time out with a score of 13-12. The two bronze medals were shared by Chinese fencers, Sun Yiwen and Zhu Mingye.
China’s lone individual gold medal was won by Huo Xingxian in the Women’s Individual Foil. She dominated Korea’s Nam Hyunhee with a very convincing bout that ended 15-6. The bronze medals went to another Korean Jeon Hee Seok and Japanese, Minami Kano.
Hong Kong’s second individual silver medal was won by Olympian Cheung Ka Long as he lost to Korean Ha Taegyu 15-11, while Chen Haiwei (CHN) and Son Youngki (KOR) shared bronze medals.
In the team events Korea and China shared equal honours with three gold medals each. China won gold medals in Men’s Foil Team, Women’s Sabre Team and Women’s Epee Team, meeting the Koreans in the finals in these three events. The Koreans won the other team events, winning the Men’s Epee Team against China, beating Iran in Men’s Sabre Team and Japan in Women’s Foil Team. The bronze medals were won by Japan in Women’s Sabre Team and both Men’s and Women’s Epee Team, China in Women’s Foil Team and Men’s Sabre Team while Hong Kong salvaged a bronze medal in Men’s Foil Team.
Below is the summary of medals:
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Korea | 7 | 6 | 5 |
| China | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| Kazakhstan | 1 | ||
| Hong Kong | 2 | 1 | |
| Iran | 2 | 1 | |
| Japan | 1 | 5 |
During the Asian Fencing Championships, the election for the Fencing Confederation of Asia (FCA) Athlete’s Commission was also held. In the Asian version of the Commission, three athletes are elected while three others are appointed by the FCA Comex from the rest of the candidates. Since FIE Comex member, Yuki Ota was endorsed by the Japanese Fencing Federation, the FCA automatically exempted him from the election and appointed him as Chairman of the Commission. The remaining six nominees were the only ones who had to go through the election.
The voting was conducted during the first three days of the competition, which coincided with the individual events. Each voter had to choose three of the six candidates. 161 fencers voted but only 158 were counted when three ballots were spoiled with only 1 candidate chosen.
After the results were presented to the members of the FCA Comex members, it was decided that since only 1 candidate would be eliminated, they might as well include that candidate as a member of the Commission.
The top three winning candidates were Sun Yujie (CHN) with 114 votes, Lam Hin Chung (HKG) with 100 votes and Lee Samson Mun Hou (SIN) with 89 votes. After receiving the highest number of votes, Sun Yujie was also appointed as Vice Chairman. The other candidates were Mojtaba Abedinishomasti (IRI), Jamilya Yunusbayeva (KAZ) and Heesook Jeon (KOR).
Prepared by:
Maria Leonor Estampador
Sports Director for Asia