Paris Olympics blow for Hong Kong fencer Vivian Kong as she forfeits bout at Asia event
- World No 1 épéeist withdraws during Asian Championships quarter-final, disrupting her Games build-up
Hong Kong épée fencer Vivian Kong Man-wai’s preparation for the Paris Olympics took a setback when she withdrew mid-bout from her quarter-final at the Asian Championships.
Paris medal hopeful Kong, the world No 1 and reigning Asian champion, was trailing world No 74 Yu Sihan of China 8-3 in Kuwait City on Saturday before forfeiting the bout citing medical reasons.
The 30-year-old was able to walk off the piste without any obvious difficulties.
Kong’s result was one of her worst at the continental championships, in which she has triumphed three times – including at the past two editions – and reached the final once, on home soil in 2017.
Having won Grand Prix and World Cup events in Doha, Barcelona and Fujairah this season, she looked poised to go far again as she cruised through the pool stage.
The Stanford University graduate went on to dispatch Michelle Harrison of the Philippines and Uzbekistan fencer Dilnaz Murzataeva in the first two knockout rounds before the medical issue forced her to make a premature exit.
