Hundreds of hours of training including four to five sessions per week have paid off for 17-year-old fencer Wai Ling Chan who has won gold at the Oceania championships in New Caledonia this month.
The gold medal in the under 17 division is her fourth Oceania age group title. She also competed in the 2013 youth world fencing championships in Croatia earlier this year.
Her father, Daniel Chan, who is also the Fencing Institute coach, said that Wai Ling’s achievements and those of her fellow Canterbury fencers were testimony of their dedication and commitment. He should know what it takes having represented Hong Kong in fencing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Read more in The Press newspaper.
You might wonder how the teenager finds time to juggle her busy schedule, attending high school, sitting New Zealand’s National Certificate of Educational Achievement and practicing the flute.
But that’s not all, Wai Ling also attends The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where she participates in a youth programme. Find out more here and here.