27th September 2026 – (Nagoya) Hong Kong’s men’s epee team lost 34-45 to Kazakhstan in the Asian Games semi-final and took bronze, after coming from behind to beat Chinese Taipei 45-40 and reach the last four.
Fencing closed on Sunday with Hong Kong still in two team medal hunts, men’s epee and women’s sabre. The epee side was individual bronze medallist Fong Hoi-sun with Ng Ho-tin, Ho Wai-hang and Lau Ho-fung. There is no bronze-medal match in the team event, so a place in the semi-final already secured a medal, and it was the second Asian Games in a row that Hong Kong had reached that stage.
Kazakhstan arrived as team gold medallists from the world championships in Hong Kong two months ago. Fong opened against Kirill Prokhodov and lost the bout 1-5. Lau Ho-fung then met Vadim Sharlaimov and took the bout 4-3, the first time Hong Kong led a relay. He hauled the match back to 7-9, then a single light cut the gap to one point. With 20 seconds left he held Sharlaimov without another hit, and Hong Kong trailed only 8-9.
Ng Ho-tin faced Ruslan Kurbanov in the third bout and refused to force the attack. His defence held until the last minute, and Hong Kong finished the opening third at 10-13. Lau came back against Prokhodov in excellent touch, judging the distance and taking two hits on the attack, but Prokhodov’s timing was just as sharp and the score ran out to 12-17.
Fong met Kurbanov next, led the bout 1-0, then was pulled apart and lost it 2-5, leaving Hong Kong 14-22 down. Ng, against Sharlaimov, stayed calm in that hole. The bout was level at 3-3 for a spell, but the last minute got away and it finished 6-7, with the match at 20-29.
Lau then tried to speed the bout up against Kurbanov. Several attacks missed, Kurbanov found the openings, and 22-33 left a recovery looking remote.
Ng’s tactics against Prokhodov worked. A run of single lights gave him the bout 7-3 and pulled Hong Kong to 29-36. In the last 20 seconds he attacked again and both fencers scored, so the match moved to 30-37 and his bout ended 8-4. Fong anchored against Sharlaimov, pressing from the first phrase despite a seven-point deficit and still fencing for a win. The class gap held. Hong Kong lost 34-45, missed the final and collected bronze.
The quarter-final against Chinese Taipei had been the match that booked that medal. Fong began against Lee Rang, bronze medallist in this year’s Asian Championships individual event, and put Hong Kong 4-2 up. Ng and Wu Chun-ming then split a tight bout 4-4, Hong Kong leading 8-6 on the match. Lau struggled against Yilu Gaston Guillemot, the Taiwanese-French epeeist, who took the bout 13-2 and sent Hong Kong behind at 10-13.
Fong returned and beat Wu Chun-ming 6-3 to level the match at 16-16. Ho Wai-hang, individual bronze medallist at the previous Asian Games, lost a hard bout to Lee Rang 3-8 and Hong Kong trailed 18-23. Ng then beat Guillemot 4-2, but the match was still 23-26 to Chinese Taipei with three bouts left.
Hong Kong had to take those bouts. Wu Chun-ming came on and Ho chased the score to 28-30. Hsu Ching-wen then opened the gap to 32-28, yet Ho kept going, won the bout 12-8 and put Hong Kong ahead for the first time in the closing stretch, 35-34. Fong and Guillemot traded hits. A single light from Fong made it 39-37, and he handed Ng a 40-38 lead to protect.
The left-hander closed against Lee Rang, Chinese Taipei’s strongest fencer, after his own individual defeat earlier in the Games. Ng stayed calm, landed three single lights in a row to make it 43-38, then shared a double hit. With the match in hand he did not rush, and he finished it 45-40.