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Chinese Fencers Expect Best Ever Performance
The Chinese fencing team have more than 10 individual World Cup medals, including one gold.
They are now working on turning those Olympic lead-up event titles which they won earlier this year into gold in Sydney, Chinadaily reported Monday.
The team's recent performances make Zhang Dongming, coach of the women's foil group, believe they may do better than they did four years ago in Atlanta, and even better than their 1984 trip to Los Angeles where women's foil fencer Luan Jujie won the first and only Olympic gold for China in the sport.
"We have come a long way since the 1996 Olympics, and the progress could be seen clearly at last year's World Championships," Zhang said.
There the Chinese team won three team competition medals - two silver and a bronze.
They went into this year's World Cup competitions feeling stronger than ever, and in the overall half-year World Cup tally table, China now stands at a record second place.
Now the team seems to be in the middle of a golden era. This time they will send 15 people to the Olympics, led by the experienced three-time Olympian Xiao Aihua and the men's world cup champion Ye Chong.
Unlike the lack of medal candidates in previous games, Xiao and Ye won't feel lonely at Sydney because the team have several promising newcomers.
This means China is expected to do better than ever before in most team events. The men's and women's foil and women's epee teams are all tipped to be strong title contenders.
Xiao will lead the women's foil team which won a bronze medal in last year's championships. Meng Jie, Yuan Li and Zhang Lei, all frequent medal winners in World Cup competitions, are the other ones are also worth.
The men's foil squad includes Ye as well as veteran Wang Haibin and Dong Zhaozhi, who won the men's foil at the 2000 World Cup Budapest Stop, beating Hungarian Mark Marsi in the final. The three have several team honours under their belt, including being the runners-up in the 1999 championships.
The women's epee team will include Liang Qin, Yang Shaoqi, Li Na and Shen Weiwei who landed silver medal in the championships.
Some of those heading for Sydney - Xiao, Ye, Dong and Yang - are also strong contenders for individual medals. The promising young fencers are set to leave their mark at Sydney.
"Triumphs in World Cup competitions show how much they have improved," said the national fencing administrative centre director Cai Yadong.
"For years they have mastered the most advanced skills. I think they are good enough to go really far in Sydney," said Cai.
But they will face strong competition from Cuba, France, Italy, Hungary and Poland.
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