Olympic champion Cheung Ka Long won men's title at the 2024 Shanghai Foil Grand Prix while Martina Favaretto took her maiden GP gold.
SHANGHAI, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Cheung Ka Long of Hong Kong, China prevailed in the men's singles event at the 2024 Shanghai Foil Grand Prix here on Sunday, while Martina Favaretto of Italy claimed the women's title.
Cheung, the reigning Olympic champion, was hardly challenged before reaching the men's final, where he met Gerek Meinhardt of the United States who beat Japan's Kazuki Iimura in the semifinal.
Cheung took the initiative in the fast-paced final and dominated with accurate flicks on Meinhardt's back and shoulder en route to a 15-7 victory, winning his second Grand Prix title following Turin, Italy this February.
On the women's side, Favaretto secured her first-ever Grand Prix gold after beating Julia Walczyk-Klimaszyk of Poland in the final, while world No. 1 Lee Kiefer and Pauline Ranvier of France settled for bronze.
A total of 14 Chinese fencers made into the men's and women's last 64, with Mo Ziwei and Chen Qingyuan advancing into the last eight respectively. Mo stunned world No. 3 Enzo Lefort of France 15-8 in the men's quarterfinal, but was then knocked out by Meinhardt.
"I played up to my normal level today. The match [against Gerek] didn't go as expected in the beginning, because he was playing at different pace that I'm not used to," Mo said. "I'll get back to the game with my coaches later."
Chen failed to make the semifinals either after losing to Favaretto 15-7, her third consecutive head-to-head defeat against the Italian this year.
"I think I improved a little bit today, but I still had some weaknesses. She did better in defense," Chen said. "My goal was to gain confidence through the matches and identify my problems. I will keep working harder." ■
