The Hong Kong men's epee fencing team suffered defeat by the slimmest of margins on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the National Games.

Cedric Ho, Fong Hoi-sun, Anson Ng and Lau Ho-fung were beaten 44-45 by their Shandong opponents at Kai Tak Arena.

Trailing by a touch entering the final bout, Lau came on as a substitute for Fong to take on Ma Xiao.

The Hong Kong fencer managed to tie the score at 43 apiece, but Ma then built a one-touch lead with less than 30 seconds to go.

With the need for Lau to attack as the clock wound down, both fencers ended up with a double touch for the final margin.

Fong said he felt bad about his performance in the defeat, but said the experience of competing in the National Games was good for the team.

"I want to thank Lau and the teammates. It's his first National Games and he was thrust into this high-pressure situation, I felt a bit guilty to have had passed it on to him," he said.

"But I think he took it very well and fenced to his abilities. I think he's a key part of our future."

In the women's bracket, the foil fencing team of Sophia Wu, Valerie Cheng, Felicia Kuan and Wu Jiawei were also knocked out of the quarterfinals at the hands of team Chongqing.

Trailing 22-28 entering the seventh bout, Kuan managed a 10-6 spurt against Chen Shilin to cut the deficit to two.

Chongqing's Wang Yingying, however, closed things out in the final bout with a 9-3 run against Cheng, for the eventual 45-36 victory.

Speaking to reporters, Cheng broke into tears saying she thought she didn't handle the pressure well.

"Perhaps there were different things that caused us to lose focus during a major tournament like this, and [forget about] how to focus," she said.

"Even though I said that I felt like I came up short, it's exactly these shortfalls that made this a good learning experience."

The fencing matches were some of the last events team Hong Kong competed in at the National Games. The city wrapped up the tournament with a record haul of nine golds, two silvers and eight bronzes, with one gold, one silver and two bronzes coming from fencers.

Cyclist Ceci Lee, 24, now has four National Games gold medals after bagging three golds at this year's Games, becoming the SAR's most successful athlete at the tournament so far.
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Last updated: 2025-11-20 HKT 20:50