The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will host the FIE Fencing Senior World Championships for the first time next summer, providing a premier stage for the city’s blade artists who have swept global fencing pistes including the Olympics.
Scheduled for July 21 to 30, 2026, the nine-day championships, co-organized by International Fencing Federation (FIE) and the Fencing Association of Hong Kong, China (HKFA), will see over 1,000 elite fencers from over 200 countries and regions vying in foil, epee, and saber arenas at AsiaWorld-Expo.
The hosting signifies the end of a near-decade drought of top-tier international fencing competitions in the city since the 2017 Asian Fencing Championships and turns the spotlight on the Hong Kong squad which is fast gaining in global recognition.
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Announcing the host city at a news conference on Friday, FIE Executive Committee member Vitaly Logvin gave a firm endorsement to Hong Kong’s status as a global event capital, noting the decision was crucially sealed by the city’s delivery of an “incredible” FIE Foil World Cup at AsiaWorld-Expo in May of 2024.
“A milestone for Hong Kong’s fencing development,” Yeung Wing-sun, chairman of the HKFA, called the upcoming championships as such at the same event.
It will serve as a rare platform to raise Hong Kong’s global profile, showcasing its unique culture to a global audience, while injecting new impetus into sports tourism, Yeung said.
He added that in addition to the immediate spectacle, the event aims to create a lasting legacy by inspiring local youth’s enthusiasm for the sport and unearthing future star fencers.
The announcement followed a harvest season for Hong Kong fencing, a steady ascent notably defined by a champion trio — the reigning world No 1 Ryan Choi Chun-yin — who made history by bagging Hong Kong’s first-ever Fencing World Championships foil title this year, alongside the two-time Olympic foil champion Edgar Cheung Ka-long and the retired epeeist Vivian Kong Man-wai, who clinched a gold medal in 2024 Paris Olympics.
Cheung described the home World Championships as a “rare opportunity” that he will “certainly cherish and enjoy”.
The chance to fight for the championship title with home turf advantage is “a hugely inspiring prospect for any Hong Kong athlete”, he said, and the home crowd applause would be “truly special and moving”.
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Female epeeist Kaylin Hsieh sin-yan, another world champion from Hong Kong’s fencing team, said competing at home has brought special motivation to her and her teammates, and she hopes that the local fencers will perform outstandingly in the competition and present a wonderful spectacle to the Hong Kong public.
In the run-up to next month’s National Games, all eyes are on the Hong Kong SAR as it stages eight of the Games’ competition sports — including fencing at Kai Tak Sports Park’s indoor facility, Kai Tak Arena — plus one mass participation event, and two cross-boundary events in collaboration with the other two hosts of the sports meet, Macao SAR and Guangdong province.
Cheung noted that he will attend a training camp in Japan and other warm-up activities to regain his form. While emphasizing a “changed mindset” of hoping to enjoy every competition as he gets on in years, Cheung affirmed that he will nonetheless train his sights on the gold medal.
Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com
