Hong Kong’s young fencing team headed to Abu Dhabi for the Asian Junior & Cadet Fencing Championships held from 1 to 9 March, and came back with 10 medals.

Teenager Cheung Hiu-ching was the pick of the bunch, scooping gold with an impressive display in the cadet women’s epee, but there were also 3 silver medals and 6 bronze for the team.

Cheung Ka-long was second in the junior men’s foil, his performance also anchoring the team to silver, while the other individual medals (all bronze) went to Yuen Chun-hei (cadet men’s foil), Chau Man-hang (cadet men’s sabre), Yow Ka-yin (cadet women’s epee) and Chu Ka-mong (junior women’s epee). The junior men’s sabre and epee teams won silver and bronze respectively, and the cadet men’s foil team bronze to complete an impressive haul.

It was the first time the prestigious youth event had been held in United Arab Emirates, and the oil-rich nation put on an impressive show, introducing video refereeing, a giant screen in the finals hall, and securing live broadcasting every day on the Abu Dhabi Sport Channel.

Hong Kong were among 27 represented countries/regions and 540 athletes in attendance, with Japan dominating, taking 14 of 24 golds available at junior and cadet levels.

Cheung Hiu-ching’s gold was all the more remarkable as she is a relative newcomer to fencing.

“I found the fluid nature of fencing, always thinking of attack and defence, fascinating,” said Cheung, who had been a keen swimmer before finding fencing.

The fifteen-year-old was ranked second overall after the pool stage then beat a Thai player and a member of the highly-rated Japanese team before eliminating teammate Yow in the semi-finals then triumphing over Chinese Taipei’s Chou Jou-chun 15-7 in the final.

Cheung Ka-long was similarly impressive in the junior men’s foil, but found Toshiya Saito of Japan too tough to crack in his final, going down 9-15.

Hong Kong’s rowing team took home 3 bronze medals from the Asian Rowing Cup I held from 11 to 14 March in the picturesque Marina Bay in Singapore, thanks to Bentley Chau in the men’s 500m and 1000m lightweight singles and Suzannah Hornett and Lee Mei-po in the women’s 500m pairs.

Hornett and Lee finished the 500m in 1:55.549, behind pairs from Vietnam and Kazakhstan. Chau finished the 1000m race in 3:39.543, behind athletes from Vietnam and Uzbekistan.

The Hong Kong table tennis team continued to impress, winning 10 medals at junior and senior level across Europe in March.

First to play were the young women players at the Italian Junior & Cadet Open. Zhu Chengzhu took gold in the junior girls’ singles with a battling five-game win, while Lee Ka-yee and Wong Chin-yau delivered gold for the cadet girls’ team and silver in the cadet girls’ doubles. Another silver and bronze in the junior girls’ team and doubles events respectively made it a very successful trip.

At senior level, Doo Hoi-kem continued her impressive season with three medals in two weeks in ITTF World Tour events in Germany and Spain. In Bremen, Doo and Lee Ho-ching were runners-up in the women’s doubles, while Doo was third in the U21 singles. Then in Almeria, Doo and Lee teamed up again for bronze in the doubles, matched by Tie Yana and Jiang Huajun in the other half of the draw.

The highlight for Hong Kong in Spain was Wong Chun-ting’s runner-up place in the men’s singles. It was Wong’s first final at this level, but the 11^th seed was beaten by Maharu Yoshimura of Japan in four games.

In triathlon, Hong Kong took silver and bronze in the elite men’s event in Mexico, at the La Paz (MEX) CAMTRI Triathlon American Cup held on 21 March.

Wong Hui-wai was second in 1:54.46 and Law Leong-tim just five seconds behind him at the event, which had a strong field mainly from the USA and Mexico. But they couldn’t catch Felipe Van de Wyngard, the winner, in the 10km run portion, with the Chilean 51 seconds faster than 19-year-old Wong, who sprinted away from Law in the last 200m.

Given that both Hong Kong athletes could have competed in the U23 section but chose to take on the elite, they can be proud to have made the podium.

“The boys followed the race plan perfectly today with both getting a great start in the swim,” said HKSI Triathlon Coach Neil Harvey. “They showed great maturity in this race.”

Squash athlete Liu Tsz-ling won a silver medal in the Women’s Singles event at the Stratos Seattle Open held on 3 - 8 March in Seattle, USA.

The Hong Kong squash team won 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal at the Malaysian Squash Tour Leg 1 held on 23 - 27 March in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Squash athlete Liu Tsz-ling won a bronze medal in the Women's Singles event at the 2^nd Bahria Town International Women's Squash Tournament held on 30 March - 4 April in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.