{"id":558417,"date":"2026-07-25T04:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T04:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/558417\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T04:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T04:13:14","slug":"ryan-chois-mental-strength-key-to-world-championships-title-defence-hong-kong-coach-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/558417\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Choi\u2019s mental strength key to World Championships title defence, Hong Kong coach says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The man who has produced a double Olympic gold medallist and a world champion for Hong Kong said mental strength would be the key as the city\u2019s top foilist begins his title defence on home soil at the Kerry Fencing World Championships on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>World No 2 Ryan Choi Chun-yin carried a <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/sport\/hong-kong\/article\/3358306\/hong-kong-star-ryan-choi-faces-race-be-fit-time-world-fencing-championships?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">left-hamstring injury<\/a> heading into the Asian Championship in New Delhi last month, but men\u2019s foil head coach Greg Koenig said his disciple was no longer hampered by the injury.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cI am quite confident, but there could be a bit of impact because he hasn\u2019t had any other competition since the Asian Championship,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s complicated to know exactly if he will find enough psychological resources to fight for the championship.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cChoi didn\u2019t train the same way as he would have trained if he were fully fit. When you train a bit less, the preparation is not the best, but he still has the skills and technical things and that can be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Choi will take on world No 173 Jose Briceno of Venezuela at 8.30am in one of the first eight bouts at the AsiaWorld-Expo, and Koenig stressed it would be more of a mental battle than a physical one for the reigning champion.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ryan Choi on his return to Hong Kong after winning the world title in Georgia last year. Photo: Eugene Lee\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cab9377c-4625-4946-a468-42b59b9c00d1_b18e7a8f.jpg\" title=\"Ryan Choi on his return to Hong Kong after winning the world title in Georgia last year. Photo: Eugene Lee\"\/>Ryan Choi on his return to Hong Kong after winning the world title in Georgia last year. Photo: Eugene Lee<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cIt\u2019s for him to understand that the injury is done and he can give 100 per cent,\u201d the Frenchman said. \u201cWhen you have been injured like this for some long weeks, you are a bit scared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man who has produced a double Olympic gold medallist and a world champion for Hong Kong said&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[51961,253023,141731,51929,253025,51925,51931,253026,3448,85,46,253024,253021,51930,105,1032,18413,253020,253022],"class_list":["post-558417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-aaron-ho-sze-long","tag-alexandra-louis-marie","tag-asiaworld-expo","tag-cheung-ka-long","tag-daphne-chan-nok-sze","tag-fencing","tag-greg-koenig","tag-harris-ho-shing-him","tag-hong-kong","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-janelle-leung-ya-lei","tag-kerry-world-fencing-championships","tag-ryan-choi-chun-yin","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-venezuela","tag-world-fencing-championships","tag-zareena-leung-yan-kiu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}