After winning Hong Kong’s first medal at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics on Monday, fencer Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan scored another silver medal for the city in the Mixed Continental Team event yesterday
Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan (middle) teams up with other young fencers from Asia and Oceania in the Mixed Continental Team event. After winning Hong Kong’s first medal at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics on Monday, fencer Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan scored another silver medal for the city in the Mixed Continental Team event yesterday.
The Hong Kong epee starlet teamed up with five other Asian and Oceanian fencers - including Japan’s Yuka Ueno, the newly crowned Youth Olympic Champion in women’s foil - to form the Asia-Oceania Team 1. And Hong Kong’s Paco Chan Pak-hei and Gigi Ma Ho-chee joined forces to play for Asia-Oceania Team 2.
The two Asia-Oceania teams met in the quarter-finals, and Kaylin secured Team 1 a place in the semi-finals by defeating Taehee Lim from Korea in the last bout, with a score of 30-23.
The 17-year-old impressed the crowd again in the semi-finals, when her team was up against America Team 1. Kaylin was down by two points when she stepped onto the piste, but outplayed her opponent Emily Vermeule of the US by 5-2, winning just enough to place the Asia-Oceania Team 1 in the gold-medal match.
The team eventually lost by three points to Europe Team 1, who clinched the gold medal, but the young fencer had done Hong Kong proud.
Earlier in the week, after her win on Monday, Kaylin told Young Post her performance was not up to scratch in the preliminary round, but she found a way back to her best form in the direct elimination round.
"I’m really happy to win the first medal for Hong Kong! All the hard work and training showed that you can’t [skimp] on the grind. I’m also pleased with the progress I’ve made over the years.”