Hong Kong's women's wheelchair fencing team returned from Eger, Hungary as world champions, punching above its weight as the team won four medals at the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Championships held from 17 to 24 September.

Two hundred athletes, representing 32 countries and regions, participated in the flagship tournament.

Leading the way for Hong Kong was the women's team of ChanYui-chong, Fan Pui-shan, Justine Charissa Ng and Yu Chui-yee, who combined for team gold in the foil, and silver in the epee; Chan and Yu also claimed individual bronzes (epee and foil respectively).

“We sent five male and five female athletes to compete in the individual foil, epee, sabre and team events, and the female team achieved a very prominent result,“ said delighted coach Wang Ruiji.

With an impressive form early in the competition, Hong Kong struck gold on the penultimate day of the event, beating local favourites Hungary 45-31 in the women’s team foil. They had cruised past Greece (45-6) and Italy (45-18) on their way to the final. Hungary have eight-time Paralympics medallist Zsuzsanna Krajnyak in their ranks, but apart from her 15-4 win over Chan, the hosts struggled to land any hits against the Hong Kong team. In the epee final, Hong Kong lost a close match 37-45 to Russia.

The next target for Wang's team is the Paralympics in Rio next summer.

“After the World Championships, the team is now back in training and aiming to qualify for the Rio Paralympics,“ added coach Wang. “We hope that we can get a good result in the upcoming competitions for a better world ranking, as well as a good result in the next Asian Para Games.“

It was a successful month for Hong Kong’s karatedo athletes, with eight medals – including 2 gold – in two major competitions in early and late September.

First up for the team was the 13^th AKF Senior Championships, in Yokohama, Japan, the biennial flagship tournament for the sport in the region.

There were silver medals for Cheng Tsz-man (male individual kata) and Lau Mo-sheung (female individual kata), plus bronzes for Cheung Kwan-lok, Lee Chun-ho and Tsang Yee-ting in kumite categories.

Three weeks later, the team headed to Coburg, Germany, for the Karate1 Premier League (the second leg of the 10-leg tournament for the globe’s best athletes organised by the World Karate Federation) and did still better, finishing third in the medal table behind France, traditionally one of the sport’s strongest nations, and hosts Germany. In total, 719 athletes from 55 countries took part.

Lau upgraded her silver to gold – her first major title after becoming a full-time athlete at the HKSI – and Cheng teamed up with Hau Chun and Hung Ho-wai to win the male team kata. Ma Man-sum was second in the female individual kumite.

(Photo provided by World Karate Federation)

The 16^th Asian Rowing Championships took place in Beijing from 24 to 28 September, with Hong Kong managing to win three medals in a tournament dominated by the hosts.

The fight for podium places was keenly contested with 13 nations or regions getting among the medals. Finally, China won 15 of 16 golds on offer at the regatta, only Iran preventing them from making it a clean sweep.

Hong Kong were not to be left out, with Lee sisters Ka-man and Yuen-yin teaming up to win silver and bronze in the women’s open and lightweight double sculls respectively, and Law Hiu-fung adding another bronze in the men’s open single sculls.

Wong Chun-ting enjoyed an impressive run at the 22^nd Asian Table Tennis Championships in Pattaya, Thailand, just missing out on a place in the final after a hard-fought semi against Chinese world No.2 Xu Xin.

Wong had to settle for bronze after a 1-4 loss to his friend Xu, who lost the final to compatriot Fan Zhendong.

HKSI Head Table Tennis Coach Chan Kong-wah said Wong had proven he had the talent to take on the best and now needs to strengthen his mental game to reach the next level.

“Wong has proven he has the quality after a number of outstanding performances this year but mentally he is not consistent enough,” said Chan. “He also needs to improve his ability to play under pressure. He is still learning and this cannot happen without sufficient international exposure.”

Nevertheless, No.11 seed Wong could be proud of his tournament, said an impressed Xu.

There were two more bronze medals for Hong Kong in the women’s doubles (Jiang Huajun and Tie Yana) and women's team (Doo Hoi-kem, Lee Ho-ching, Li Ching-wan, Soo Wai-yam and Tie).

There were more medals for the elite team at the Austrian Open, and for the youngsters at the Chinese Taipei Junior & Cadet Open. Wong teamed up with Tang Peng to reach the semis of the men’s doubles in Austria, a feat matched by Doo and Lee in the women’s. In Taipei, the junior girls’ team (Ellie Fong, Liu Qi, Zhu Chengzhu) won silver, with Zhu adding bronze in the singles. Cadets Lee Ka-yee and Wong Chin-yau also took bronze in their team event.