Fencing-Hong Kong's Kong says farewell to fencing after winning Olympic gold

PARIS : Hong Kong's newly crowned Olympic champion Vivian Kong announced on Sunday she would say goodbye to her fencing career.

"After competing in my third Olympics, I have decided to take a break and say goodbye to a full-time professional fencing career," she said in a post in Chinese on her Instagram account.

"I look forward to starting a new career and work towards having my own charity to help kids find joy again in sports," Kong said in the post.

Kong, 30, last Saturday won her first Olympic gold in a hard-earned epee final against local favourite Auriane Mallo-Breton, becoming Hong Kong's first female Olympic champion in fencing.

Kong started fencing at the age of 11 after trying a number of sports including athletics and taekwondo.

She made her Olympic debut in the Rio Games in 2016, becoming Hong Kong's first fencer to win a contest at the Games when she beat 2009 world champion, Russia's Lyubov Shutova.

In Tokyo, Kong finished fifth in the individual epee event and seventh in the team event.

"I'm so grateful to have had the chance to dedicate almost 20 years of my life to fencing and thank you for being a part of this journey," she said in the statement that also has an English version.

"I will miss my fencing family so, so much, but once a fencer, always a fencer!"