Hong Kong fencer Cheung Ka-long’s victory over Italy’s Filippo Macchi on the Paris Olympics has sparked an change of insults on social media, with Cheung’s supporters celebrating his win with posts about pineapple pizzas—broadly thought-about a culinary blunder in Italian cooking.
Cheung made Hong Kong historical past on Tuesday by beating Macchi 15-14 within the males’s foil. That triumph made Cheung, who had received within the Tokyo Video games in 2021, the primary Hong Konger to bag two gold medals.
The bout required three stoppages for video critiques to find out the deciding level because the fencing machine registered scores from each fencers at about the identical time. The ultimate level was ultimately awarded to Cheung, sparking protests from the Italian facet.
The Italian Fencing Federation mentioned in a press release that it might file a grievance to the Worldwide Olympic Committee and the Worldwide Fencing Federation about what it referred to as “unacceptable” refereeing.
“By no means seen something like this. Filippo Macchi is the actual winner and he was denied a gold he deserved,” Italian Fencing Federation President Paolo Azzi mentioned.
Italy’s Olympic Committee President Giovanni Malagò recommended the choice of referees was problematic, saying “the 2 judges had been from Taipei and Korea in a remaining between Italy and Hong Kong.”
Macchi’s supporters additionally left feedback on Cheung’s Instagram account to precise their grievances. One remark alleged that Cheung’s championship was “robbed” and Macchi needs to be the ultimate winner.
In a mockery response, Hong Kongers replied with feedback on Instagram about their love for pineapple pizza to defend Cheung and mentioned they’d have a whole lot of pineapple pizzas to have fun the win.
Pizza Hut in Hong Kong and neighboring playing metropolis Macao additionally supplied free pineapple toppings on any pizzas when eating at its branches on Tuesday and Wednesday to have fun the victory.
However Macchi ultimately earned respect from some Hong Kongers after he posted on his Instagram to say that he is aware of each referees and he didn’t wish to level a finger at them for his loss. He added their selections need to be revered.
Cheung’s win additionally marked the primary time Hong Kong has secured two gold medals in the identical Olympics. Vivian Kong Man Wai final weekend received the person epee for the semi-autonomous Chinese language metropolis.
