Chongqing- The 2020 Chongqing Teenagers Fencing Championship was held at the Chongqing International Expo Center last weekend, with a total of 291 individual contestants and 67 teams competing for the top prizes and honors.

As the city’s first-ever high-standard teenager fencing competition, the organizing committee invited Li Na, world champion epee fencer who won a gold medal in the women’s team epee event at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, and Ye Chong, star coach and former foil fencer of the Chinese foil team, to give on-site training and instructions to teenage fencers. Their appearance at the opening ceremony of the event made quite a stir in the audience and among teenage participants.

The venue houses a total of 21 long, narrow strips for fencers to remain on at all times, the color strips are for matches from eighth-finals on, while the 22-meter long 3.6-meter wide elevated strip platform is specifically dedicated to the final. There are six competition items under two fencing disciplines, including the men’s individual epee fencing, men’s individual foil fencing, men’s team fencing, women’s individual epee fencing, women’s individual foil fencing, and the women’s team fencing. What’s more, contestants are also divided into eight competing groups according to their ages in a bid to provide more participation opportunities for all teenage fencers.

Li Na first engaged in fencing back in 1993 and has been participating in all kinds of domestic and international fencing championships ever since. She literally witnessed the sport starting from scratch in China. After seeing the improved competition conditions and environment for contestants, Li Na said that “I see great potential and bright prospects here, this event will allow young fencing enthusiasts to feel the milieu of a real competition and lay a solid foundation for our standby reserve fencers.”

Indeed, in order to create a better competition atmosphere and push for the development of fencing in Chongqing, the organizing committee formed a special technical expert team and a professional judge panel. The expert team is headed by international level referee Zhao Chuanjie who is also a professor of the Shanghai University of Sport, while the judging panel consists of two international level referees, three national-level referees, 16 first-class referees, and three second-class referees. The schedules and rules of the competition are all designed by international level referees strictly following international standards and specifications, so as to make sure contestants can compete in a fair and impartial environment.

“We need more teenager fencing competitions like this to allow for more young contestants to participate and let more teenagers know about, experience, and fall in love with the sport,” said Ye Chong. Nowadays, some fencing competitions are becoming more and more “professional” according to Ye and therefore have only a limited influence on the popularization of the sport.

Saturday’s matches are for individual fencers and saw 16 champions emerge from the four categories of men’s epee, men’s foil, women’s epee, and women’s foil. While Sunday marks the final game day for the 2020 Chongqing Teenagers Fencing Championship and saw another 13 fencers make their way out and claim victory.