Boys best beware of Cheung

Cheryl Cheung has faced male competitors her entire fencing career — a daunting reality, from the time she was first introduced to the sport six years ago in Hong Kong.

Now, she welcomes the challenge.

“Of course, guys are a lot faster and a lot more challenging to fence, but it’s also really good training for me because going to nationals, there’s people with really high level, really high speed,” said Cheung, who primarily competes in the épée category. The objective is to touch or strike any area of an opponent’s body with the tip of the sword.

“I love fencing guys,” adds Cheung, 17, now living in Winnipeg. “There isn’t a lot of girls in my weapon, so I usually train with guys a lot, too. I’m used to it, but it’s really good for training.”

She will look to emerge from a field of male participants at the provincial fencing championship at École Romeo-Dallaire School in St. James this weekend. The tournament begins Saturday and concludes Sunday.

Cheung, who left Hong Kong in 2020 as the country’s No. 3-ranked 14-year-old, won the Manitoba title (Open Division) shortly after arriving in Canada. She’s continued to be a standout from the province in fencing, winning a silver medal at the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island last year.

“Fencing is a really popular sport back in my hometown and we’ve had some really good achievements in the sport,” said Cheung. “So, it really inspired me to be a part of this sport.”

Sean Rathwell, executive director of the Manitoba Fencing Association, said the perception of fencing has changed worldwide in recent years as more people have taken a liking to individual sports.

“It’s gotten massive in Asia,” Rathwell said. “It’s traditionally been a European dominated sport but over the last 10-15 years the Asian countries have completely exploded on the scene,” Rathwell said.

“China has opened 10,000 clubs, Korea’s been massive on the scene, Japan, Indian, Pakistan — all of them participating in a massive way.”

The provincial championship will attract about 100 athletes ranging from 13 to 70 years old, a telling sign of the recent boom in participation locally. The MFA tracked about 350 participants in the sport before the pandemic and expects to see nearly 1,300 this year.

“We’ve grown over the last few years, since the pandemic. These are numbers we probably haven’t seen for 15-20 years. It’s pretty big for us,” Rathwell said.

“Maybe that it’s an elitist, expensive sport, might be a part of the perception, but I think it’s more exposure in the sense that people just didn’t know they could do it here and that it’s fun.”

Athletes need a membership with the MFA and a club to fence full time in the province. The brightest talents (about 50 people currently) are selected to the provincial high-performance team for further training and preparation for events such as the national fencing championship.

The province sends 10-15 athletes to the national tournament each year. This year’s event will be held in Saskatoon in May, when Cheung will battle another field of men in the U20 division.

The MFA is working to develop more officials and coaches to service the rising number of athletes. Cheung is currently undergoing training to become a referee and help pay it forward to the upcoming class of fencers in Winnipeg.

“It’s an individual sport so I really have to rely on myself when I’m on the court and it’s really good mental training for me because there’s no one else that can help me when I’m fencing,” Cheung said.

“I believe (that) really helped me with my personal growth and also gave me a lot of confidence.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X:@jfreysam