Kenta Chida

Kenta Chida
Personal information
Born (1985-08-22) 22 August 1985 (age 39)
Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan
Height1.7 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight65 kg (143 lb)
Sport
CountryJapan
Weaponfoil
Handleft-handed
National coachOleg Matseichuk
ClubNexus Fencing Team
FIE rankingcurrent ranking
Medal record
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2012 London Team
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Paris Team
Asian Fencing Championships
Silver medal – second place 2011 Seoul Individual
Silver medal – second place 2005 Kota Kinabalu Team
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Suwon Individual

Kenta Chida (千田健太, Chida Kenta, born 2 August 1985) is a Japanese fencer.[1] At the 2012 Summer Olympics he competed in the men's foil, but was defeated in the second round. He won a silver medal in the team foil event.[2]

Career

Chida's father Kenichi was selected for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but he could not attend the event due to Japan's boycott of the Games.[3] He however made no attempt to push his son into fencing; Kenta chose the sport for himself during his first year at junior high school.[3] He was originally right handed, but his father suggested that he switch to fencing with his left hand to gain a competitive advantage.[4]

Chida began fencing in the senior category in the 2002–03 season, then joined the national team and began training under national coach Oleg Matseichuk. Chida made his breakthrough in 2006–07 season: he climbed his first World Cup podium with a bronze medal in the Tokyo World Cup, followed by another bronze in the Cairo Grand Prix.[3] These results allowed him to enter the Top 20.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, he competed in the men's individual foil, finishing 11th, losing to Benjamin Kleibrink, the eventual champion, in the second round.[5]

Chida graduated in 2009 from the Faculty of Letters of Chuo University.

References

  1. ^ London2012.com Archived 30 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Olympics fencing: Italy beat Japan to win men's team foil". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  3. ^ a b c Kosuke Inagaki (27 June 2012). "Japanese 'opposites' team up for London Olympics". The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 9 September 2014.
  4. ^ "Kenta Chida Biography". fie.org. FIE. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  5. ^ "Kenta Chida Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2015.