Hong Kong fencing star Cheung Ka-long suffered a last-32 exit in the men's individual foil at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on Tuesday (Sept. 22), falling 15-13 to Uzbekistan's Daniil Kravtsov and missing out on a chance to defend his Asian Games title.
The two-time Olympic champion and reigning Asian Games men's foil champion had struggled for consistency throughout the day. Plagued by injuries in recent years, Cheung narrowly won his opening two pool bouts against fencers from Thailand and Kuwait before losing three consecutive bouts to opponents from Macao, Qatar and Uzbekistan.
He finished the pool stage with a 2-3 record, ranking 22nd overall to advance to the last 32.
Cheung was drawn against Uzbekistan's Kravtsov again in the last 32, but was unable to overturn the earlier defeat. He eventually lost 13-15 to bow out before the last 16.
Speaking after the bout, Cheung said he was disappointed with his performance, saying he had done his best to prepare for the competition but felt unable to keep up, possibly because of his age and injuries.
The 29-year-old, who is making his fourth Asian Games appearance, said he expects this to be his final Asian Games.
Elsewhere, HK's Choi Chun-yin advanced to the men's foil quarterfinals after beating Kazakhstan's Timofey Semyonov 15-4 in the last 16.
In the women's épée, HK's Kaylin Hsieh, who won a silver medal at this year's Asian Championships, went unbeaten in all five of her pool bouts and advanced directly to the last 16 as the third-ranked fencer overall.
Teammate Chan Wai-ling advanced to the knockout stage in eighth place after the pool rounds. She defeated the United Arab Emirates' Zainab Alhosani 15-5 in the last 32 to progress to the next round.
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Asian Games | Choi Chun-yin storms into men's foil last 16, Cheung Ka-long survives to last 32
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