HK to host Fencing Foil World Cup
Hong Kong will host a FIE Foil World Cup for the first time next month. The Hong Kong leg, at AsiaWorld-Expo, will mark the last Foil World Cup of the season, with up to 400 elite foilists from 30 countries and regions coming to compete.  Among them are men's world number one Nick Itkin and women's world number one Lee Kiefer, both from the United States. The competition represents an important warm-up opportunity for homegrown Olympians Edgar Cheung and Daphne Chan before they head to Paris for the Olympics. Cheung said he's excited to fence on home soil. "It means a lot because we use to travel around the world to fence in the World Cup to compete. Now it is a good opportunity that we can fence in Hong Kong, and all the Hong Kong people can cheer for us with Cantonese, which is really touching," he said. "It's kind of like a training for me this competition to prepare for the Olympics. If I have any mistakes in physical or mental that I did not do good, I can now realise and I still have time to prepare and to be better, and even my coach can see what happens."  Nicholas Choi, who was part of the team that won bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games, said it's incredible for Hong Kong to host an international event and for many big names to come to the territory. "Back in my days when I was younger, there wasn't a lot of international competitions but now slowly and slowly, there are more and more happening. I think it is really good for the development, for the youngsters, and also for fencing, it's the first time for us in foil that we're actually hosting a World Cup competition, so I think it is a really big step for us," he said. "I also think that we're also hosting the World Championship in two years. This would be a really good stepping stone for us to even prepare the World Championship in a better way so I think it is a really good thing for us and everyone." On the women's side, Chan said she doesn't want to set specific expectations for herself. "I think this World Cup is pretty much the same as the usual ones and it just keeps my condition. There are many competitions to keep me at my best level, so I hope I can perform better on the Olympic stage," she said. "I think everyone in the competition is my competitor, but I just want to try my best, fence them and achieve better results."