Fencer Cheung Ka-long will decide plans for next Olympics by June, coach Greg Koenig says
Hong Kong’s foil head coach says he is confident he will ‘find the words’ for his disciple to stay motivated to continue into the next Games
The man who turned Cheung Ka-long into a two-time Olympic champion says the city’s golden boy will decide on his next Olympics venture before June next year.
Greg Koenig, who has been Hong Kong’s foil head coach since 2018, said also that he was confident he would “find the words” for his disciple to continue.
“We will take this decision quite fast – I will not take one year to make this decision with him,” Koenig said. “It’s a long process to qualify the team for the Olympic Games, and it takes not only the year before as we need to have good rankings.
“Before next June, before the next World Championships in Georgia, we will have the plan and I’m pretty sure he will be OK, to be fully ready for the Olympics.”
Koenig also said Cheung “needs time” to get going again and the Parisian would not be rushing the decorated foilist but would instead find a way to motivate him to go to the next Games in Los Angeles.
“Every morning you have to wake up to go to train, and to see my face shouting,, so I understand that it can be a bit complicated, and boring,” he said. “My goal will be slowly, slowly, to keep him loving fencing, which is not always easy.
