Hong Kong Olympic gold medalist Edgar Cheung has become world number 1 in the men’s foil category of the International Fencing Federation rankings for the first time.
This comes despite losing to Italian fencer Giorgio Avola in the quarter-finals of the Foil World Cup on Sunday in Belgrade, Serbia.
The 24-year-old, known professionally as Cheung Ka-long, took the top spot after overcoming former world number 1 Italy’s Alessio Foconi, who went out in the first round.
In a video uploaded by an Instagram user with the handle @gold4hk, Cheung – with his signature poker face – said he was “very happy” to be No. 1 in the world.
Many of his fans took to social media to celebrate the feat. The fencer also shared some of the stories on his Instagram page.
Cheung beat Samuel Elijah Robson of Singapore, Edoardo Luperi of Italy and Ha Tae-gyu of South Korea to reach the quarter-finals.
Cheung became Hong Kong’s second Olympic gold medalist last year after beating Italy’s Daniele Garozzo at the Tokyo Games.
