Harris Ho Claims Hong Kong’s First Youth Olympics Individual Fencing Gold

World junior men’s foil champion Harris Ho made history on Monday at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, securing Hong Kong’s first-ever individual fencing gold medal at the Games. Ho, currently ranked 25th globally by the FIE, defeated Japan’s Masashi Maeda 15-8 in the final, earning Hong Kong its second gold medal of the tournament.

Entering the 14-athlete competition as the top seed by world ranking, Ho advanced to the quarter-finals as the second seed following a strong 5-1 performance in the group stage. He dominated Czech fencer Krystof Novak 15-2 in the quarter-finals before reversing his lone group-stage loss by defeating Cyprus’s Aris Kiayias 15-10 in the semi-finals.

In the final, Ho faced Maeda, who had narrowly overcome Britain’s Mohammed Belbouab 15-13 in the opposite semi-final. Replicating the 15-8 victory he scored against Maeda during April’s world junior semi-finals, the Hong Kong fencer wrapped up the match before the conclusion of the first period.

Ho’s triumph marks Hong Kong’s highest individual achievement in fencing at the Youth Olympics, building on previous silver-medal performances by Ryan Choi (men’s foil, 2014) and Vivian Kong (women’s epee, 2018).

Hong Kong’s 15-member delegation across 12 events in Dakar has amassed six medals so far—two gold, one silver, and three bronze. Ho joins wushu athlete Poon Ho-yin, winner of the combined taijiquan and taijijian event, as the city’s second gold medallist of the Games.