World No 1 Vivian Kong Man-wai is fit for the new fencing season after a speedy recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury picked up at the world championships this summer.
The 25-year-old épée ace left earlier this week for Tallinn, Estonia, where she will encounter her major rivals in the opening round of the last World Cup series before the 2020 Olympics.
The world’s top 10 fencers, including Lin Sheng and Sun Yiwen of China, Kang Young-mi and Choi In-jeong of South Korea and reigning world champion Nathalie Moellhausen of Brazil, have all entered the event that starts on Friday.
At July’s world championships in Budapest, Kong injured the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee before losing to the Brazilian in the semi-finals and settling for a bronze, the first-ever medal from a Hong Kong fencer at a world championships. She was forced to abandon the following team event and had to fly back to Hong Kong for an operation.
It was the second time in her brief career that Kong suffered a serious injury, having snapped her left knee cruciate ligament in 2017 when she was preparing for that year’s world championships.
“We made a final medical check two weeks ago and the doctor gave her the green light to compete in the World Cup,” said head coach Zheng Zhoukang. “As a precaution, we also sent a physiotherapist and other support staff to Tallinn to take care of Kong.
Our ultimate target is the Olympic Games and we need to monitor her condition closely on her push for Tokyo – Zheng Zhoukang, Vivian Kong’s head coach
“She is about 85 per cent fit and we need to evaluate her progress after such a serious injury. It will be important to see how she progresses in Tallinn as this will be her first competition in more than three months.”
Kong captured a silver medal in Tallinn last year and if she fails to appear this year, she will lose significant ranking points which may affect her world ranking and Olympic qualification campaign. But the coach said the ranking would not be their top concern.
“Even if she fails to show up this year, she has a big gap over second-placed Lin, and the mainlander and other top 10 fencers may also lose points in Tallinn,” he said. “Kong should be able to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics by virtue of her world ranking after a strong performance in 2019 so far. Our ultimate target is the Olympic Games and we need to monitor her condition closely on her push for Tokyo. Ranking is not our top priority compared with an Olympic medal.”
The Stanford University graduate opened last season with her World Cup silver in Tallinn before bagging two golds in the Havana and Barcelona rounds in January and February respectively. She topped the world rankings in March and captured a bronze in the Dubai World Cup in May out of a total of five rounds. Kong closed out the season with a bronze at the worlds in July.
Kong is also entered in the team event in Tallinn, along with teammates Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan, Coco Lin Yik-hei and Chu Ka-mong. Hong Kong are 13th in the team world rankings and, according to coach Zheng, still have a chance to make it to the Tokyo Games, which features eight teams.
