How Hong Kong world champion fencer Ryan Choi came up with his unorthodox style

Hong Kong fencer Ryan Choi Chun-yin is known for his unusual “leap, crouch and charge forward” style on the piste, but has anyone wondered where his unconventionalness came from? “It’s probably in my blood, it came with me when I was born,” said the city’s first fencing world champion. “I didn’t like to study. I was naughty and was almost expelled from school. “I could not sit tight and was always running, jumping around.” Born on October 9, 1997, a little more than three months after the handover of Hong Kong back to Chinese sovereignty, Choi began fencing – on his mother’s suggestion – when he was a nine-year-old pupil at La Salle Primary School. Choi recalled resisting the sport very much in the beginning, thinking it was “violent and dangerous”, and felt like it was merely “fighting with weapons”. “But the coach in my first class kept saying I was talented, which made me very proud, and I fell in love with the sport,” said. An unconventional child and pupil growing up, Choi admitted he was not a disciplined person. “My concentration has always been low. I can sit properly only if I am interested in something,” he said. “It has to be fun for me too. The way for me to make new friends was never to chat over meals; it was always games. “I need games in my training as well. We spend two or three days a week playing kick volleyball, which trains reflexes and body coordination. I cannot just sit inside the gym doing repetitive weight training.” Choi revealed his unorthodox style on the strips was a result of watching other fencers on YouTube, though he was interested only in those with “more avant-garde” playing styles. “There were two fencers for me in particular: Guillaume Bianchi of Italy leaps a lot and Japanese foilist Takahiro Shikine just has his own style,” he said. “I have always been more interested in watching these types of fencers. “The traditional ones were good and might rank among the top. I admired them growing up but I wouldn’t study their style crazily.” Choi also said that, growing up, he had aspired to be an intelligent athlete. “I always wanted to outsmart my opponents and not take them head on; I wanted to be the smart one,” he said. “So this craziness of mine was inborn. I had always been such a person and I have these traits in my body. “Yes, there was a lot of referencing, but you found the one that suited you the most, worked on it and it became your own style.” Like many other children in Hong Kong, Choi did not commit to only one extracurricular activity in his youth as he was also a keen football player who played for his school team. But training on two fronts was tiring. The watershed moment came at 14, when Choi decided to choose fencing over football. He was selected for the city’s youth team the same year. A year later, Choi rose to the top at the regional junior and cadet championships in Indonesia. Then in Nanjing in 2014, he became the first Hong Kong men’s foilist to stand on the Youth Olympic Games podium, winning gold and bronze in the mixed team and individual events, respectively. For Choi, who celebrated his 28th birthday last month, fencing was not only a sport but also a way to “know more about my personality”. “Fencing has allowed me to discover the side of myself that likes to guess people’s minds,” he said. “You need to observe your opponent’s moves, guess what’s in their mind, and then predict and make the appropriate responding actions. “Fencing is the centre of my life; everything I have is from fencing. Through the sport, I found my personality traits and gained many job opportunities. “But the most important thing of all is to find the goal in life: [and] that is to bring glory to Hong Kong and pass on sports knowledge to the next generation.” Despite his recent success, Choi warned the younger generations to not just ape his fencing style and training habits because of where he stood now. “It wasn’t always smooth sailing for me. Yes, it appeared that I rose to the top quickly, but I also endured endless adversity; it was very tough and difficult,” he said. “Learn from me only if you think it’s truly your style. “Never think you need to act like someone unless you have tried and studied his moves. Do not just follow someone out of some first impression.” After cracking into the world’s top 100 in the 2016-17 season, Choi began to win accolades as a men’s team member, winning silver medals at the Asian Games and the Asian Championships in Jakarta and Bangkok in 2018. More medals and glory would come, both at individual and team level in competitions worldwide, including FIE events such as the World Cup and the Grand Prix, but an individual top prize was elusive. The closest came on May 15, 2022, when Choi failed to hold on to his 14-12 lead in the final and lost 15-14 to Tommaso Marini of Italy at the Grand Prix in Incheon. An Asian Games bronze medallist from Hangzhou in 2022, Choi endured a rough start to last season, often being eliminated in the early rounds before even missing out on the main draw of the World Cup in Vancouver in early May. This prompted the left-hander to ponder skipping May’s Grand Prix in Shanghai and ending the season prematurely. Coach Maurizio Zomparelli advised against the idea, and the rest is history. The Italian mastermind and his compatriot Giacomo Fanizza eventually had to “go pink” after promising they would dye their hair and beard should Choi get great results in Shanghai. Choi said that made the two Italians feel worse than when he feeds them “pineapples on pizzas”. The breakthrough in Shanghai sparked a winning streak in two more competitions: the Asian Championships in Indonesia and then the World crown in Georgia. There were, however, no more colourful celebrations to follow, despite Zomparelli hinting about it in July. “I pretended I had dyed my hair purple on social media, trying to lure my coaches to do the same,” said Choi. “They didn’t take the bait.” Currently the No 1 men’s foilist in the world, Choi is looking to conquer the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles and aims to defend his title on home soil when Hong Kong hosts the next world championships next summer. But first for Choi will be fencing at Kai Tak Arena, in front of his family and friends, on November 16, and potentially in an all-Hong Kong final against two-time Olympic champion Cheung Ka-long.

How Hong Kong world champion fencer Ryan Choi came up with his unorthodox style

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}World No 1 foilist says he was an unconventional child who could not ‘sit tight’, but fencing helped ground him and make him the person he is

World No 1 foilist says he was an unconventional child who could not ‘sit tight’, but fencing helped ground him and make him the person he is