Last month, 17-year-old foil fencer Janelle Leung won two gold medals at the Asian Juniors Fencing Championship in Uzbekistan. It was the first time a junior Hong Kong female won the individual and team events in the same year.
Her victory was momentous, but one of her best memories happened afterwards, when a young female fencer from Uzbekistan complimented her fencing skills. She did it through a drawing.
"Her English wasn't really good, so she showed me a booklet where she drew me," says Janelle. "I've never had a fan before. So I encouraged her to keep going."
Encouraged by Edgar
Janelle herself was encouraged by Hong Kong's big wins at the Tokyo Olympics last year. She hopes to qualify for the Olympics one day, especially after fencer Edgar Cheung made history by winning Hong Kong's second-ever Olympic gold medal.
"Edgar winning gold in the Olympics reminded me that there's a chance for me to win the championships," she says. "That gave me a lot of confidence and helped me win gold."
Later, in April, Janelle competed at the Junior Fencing World Championship in Dubai. After her events there, she is now ranked 10th among junior women around the world.
Her amazing results are proof that the pandemic has not beaten her.
As a part-time athlete at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, Janelle used to train three or four days a week, five hours a day after school. That made at least 60 hours a month.
But the Sports Institute's training centre has been closed since January because of the pandemic.
"I didn't have anywhere to train with my teammates. Instead I just did workouts at home, and watched some videos of top fencers from around the world."
"So I didn't really expect much," she says about the Asian Juniors Championship last month. "I didn't want any stress to affect me. So when I got to the top four, then the top two, and in the end, the finals, I was very relaxed. And I did really well."
Fencing summer camp
Her success is the result of years of hard work, but her first time fencing was an accident. When Janelle was five, she was at the mall when she saw a fencing summer camp.
"I saw those people wearing the clothes, the masks, the blades. And it looked so cool because I'd never seen an actual blade before," she says. "So I told my dad I wanted to try it."
Over time, her passion for fencing grew.
"Fencing is all about your thinking. It's all about techniques. So it doesn't matter how your body is shaped," she says. "It is how you think of each match, how you use your techniques, like a chess game."
Janelle is able to concentrate fully on whatever task is in front of her.
"When I'm in a fencing centre, I focus on fencing – I don't think about studying. And when I'm studying, I never think about fencing," she explains.
Winning gold has inspired her to face everything with the same confidence. She says: "If you tell yourself you can do this, you can do it."
Fun facts
Fencing is played by two opponents, They use weapons called foils, which are like thin bendy swords. They score points by trying to touch their opponent with the tip of the foil.
Quick questions
- Which countries has Janelle competed in?
- How has the pandemic affected Janelle?
- Do you think fencing could be a dangerous sport?
