Hangzhou, September 9 (Reporter Miao Lu) "Before the game, I actually didn't think that there could be such a big point difference, and in the process of the game, no matter how much the score was ahead, I didn't think too much, just a sword and a sword to fight steadily." Hong Kong's Zhang Jialang said.
In the men's individual foil final of the fencing event of the Hangzhou Asian Games held on the evening of the 24th, Zhang Jialang defeated China's Chen Haiwei 15:2 and "stabbed" the Asian Games gold medal. This is not only his first Asian Games gold medal, but also the first Asian Games individual gold medal in Hong Kong fencing.
Known as Hong Kong's "sword god", Cheung Ka Lang defeated Italy's star to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, which was the first Olympic fencing medal in Hong Kong's history, the first Olympic gold medal since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the second gold medal since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. At the previous Chengdu Universiade, Zhang Jialang also won the championship of this event.
Looking back on the Chengdu Universiade that ended not long ago, Zhang Jialang said frankly: "The Universiade was a very good experience, because it was not very good at the beginning, and it was a good learning opportunity for me to gradually adjust later." ”
"Jedi Reborn" seems to have become the "label" on Zhang Jialang. Zhang Jialang's former coach Lu Zhicheng once commented on him, "Zhang Jialang is a very talented athlete, but also a very self-disciplined and perseverance athlete. ”
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, 19-year-old Zhang Jialang "newborn calves are not afraid of tigers", although he stopped at the round of 16, he still set the best result in the history of fencing athletes of the Hong Kong team. In the years after the Rio Olympics, Zhang Jialang experienced ups and downs and fell into a low tide period of more than a year.
In the 2020 FIFA Men's Foil World Cup (Egypt) team competition, Zhang Jialang opened the road of counterattack, and in the third place match, Zhang Jialang twice turned the tide, chasing 16 points at a disadvantage, and miraculously defeated the world powerhouse France, helping Hong Kong, China to get the Olympic men's foil team ticket for the first time. On April 2022, 4, the FIFF updated its world rankings, and Zhang Jialang reached the top with 18 points.
In the semifinals of the day, Zhang Jialang also won Jedi, narrowly defeating Japan's Takashi Shibe by one point to advance to the final. Looking back on the game, Zhang Jialang said: "At that time, the coach told me, don't look at the score, play at your own pace, I am lucky that the final execution result is good, and I have always had a belief that I should not give up until the last moment in the game. ”
From the trough to repeatedly turning against the wind in large-scale events, Zhang Jialang has trained a "strong heart". "It's important to win, but the most important thing is to enjoy the game." Zhang Jialang said. Referring to the 2024 Paris Olympics, Zhang Jialang believes that the victory of the Asian Games is "a milestone in life".
Zhang Jialang said that at first I thought I couldn't win at all, but in fact I won again, which gave the team a lot of confidence. The players of the Chinese, Japanese and Korean teams are very strong, and I hope to take this opportunity to experience the personal styles of their different players. (End)