Visa welcomes Asia Pacific’s highest ranking foil fencer Cheung Ka-long to Team Visa

12/09/2019

• Visa: The Olympic Games is a great opportunity to celebrate the Olympic Spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play – promoting tolerance and understanding for a peaceful world
• Visa collaborates with partners to roll out Olympic privileges and kicks off Japan outbound offers throughout 2020

 

Visa welcomes Asia Pacific’s highest ranking foil fencer Cheung Ka-long to Team Visa.


Left to right: Pui Kwan Kay, Vice President of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China; Cheung Ka-long; Maaike Steinebach, Visa General Manager for Hong Kong and Macau; and Lo Kwok Hung, President of The Hong Kong Fencing Association

 

Visa, the global leader in payments technology, welcomes Asia Pacific’s highest ranking foil fencer Cheung Ka-long of Hong Kong SAR to Team Visa for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Cheung Ka-long currently ranks sixth worldwide in men’s International Fencing Federation foil ranking1, and first in Asia Pacific region. He will join Visa’s diverse roster of athletes comprising more than 70 athletes from 43 countries and regions across more than 30 sports, including new additions to The Games, such as surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing. Visa is the official Worldwide Payment Technology Partner of the Olympic Games.

Mr. Cheung previously represented Hong Kong SAR at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The former world junior fencing champion made a breakthrough this year by claiming his first silver medal in individual foil at the grand prix event in Turin, Italy. He was awardee for both 2016 and 2017 Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards. In the coming months, he will be competing in the World Cup, Grand Prix and qualifying events to qualify for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Maaike Steinebach, Visa General Manager, Hong Kong and Macau, said: "Visa is delighted to have Cheung Ka-long join Team Visa. Visa shares the Olympic Spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. The diversity of Team Visa members’ talents, achievements and characters are representative of many of Visa’s underlying values of acceptance, partnership and inclusion, all of which are fundamental to our business. They are essential and enable us to build better and stronger partnerships with consumers, businesses, and communities.”

Founded in 2000, Team Visa has given more than 400 aspiring athletes the support they need to pursue their goals and dreams. Mr. Cheung said that he is honored to be able to join Team Visa and will continue to improve his results for the best manifest of Hong Kong at the world stage.

Cheung Ka-long said: “I am honored to join Team Visa and share the spirit of The Games with incredible athletes from around the world as we prepare for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The opportunity to compete on the world stage while representing Hong Kong is truly an honor, and the encouragement and support I receive from coaches, teammates, family, friends, fans and our partners, like Visa, really means a lot as I pursue this life goal and dream.”

Since 1986, Visa has been the exclusive payment service partner of the Olympic Games. By extending its sponsorship through 2032, Visa will continue to create more forward-looking payment solutions to ensure the next generation of athletes, fans, cardholders and clients are able to get more out of their Olympic experience.

A short flight away, Japan is one of Hong Kong travelers’ favorite destinations. Visa collaborate with banks and merchant partners to giveaway Olympic packages to celebrate the event. Visa cardholders can also check out the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 inspired travel itineraries special to the period.

Visa will continue to roll out promotions and privileges for travelers to Japan for the entire year next year. To date, there are more than one million merchant locations2 in Japan that accept Visa.

 

1 As of November 2019, Cheung Ka-long ranks sixth worldwide in men’s International Fencing Federation foil ranking, and first in Asia Pacific region. Source: https://fie.org/athletes

2 Visa contracted market survey, 2017

 

APPENDIX - THE OLYMPIC GAMES TOKYO 2020 INSPIRED TRAVEL SPOTS

New National Stadium

Ariake Gymnastic Center

Nippon Budōkan

Yoyogi National Gymnasium

Designed by Kengo Kuma with a major use of timber in it. The stadium serves as the main stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as being the venue for track and field events at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

The home of the gymnastics events for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Featuring a 120-meter-long, 90-meter-wide arched wooden roof- the largest of its kind in the world.

Originally built for the judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics, will serve as the venue for hosting Japanese martial arts, judo and karate in Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Located at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, hosted swimming and diving events in the 1964 Summer Olympics. It will house handball competition at Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

 

 

Odaiba, Tokyo Bay Area

Toyosu Market

Odaiba, Tokyo Bay area is where new Olympics sites locate, a perfect choice for those who are interested in shopping, entertaining and dining all in one place through night and day! You can shop and eat at DiverCity Tokyo where you get to take loads of pictures with the world famous giant Gundam; taking a ride on the Ferris wheel at Palette town to appreciate the sunset and night view of Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Sky Tower and Rainbow Bridge；other than that, buy a ticket for Fuji TV station to tour inside and buy your favorite Japanese TV episode’s merchandise.

On the man-made island of Toyosu in the Bay of Tokyo. It took over the wholesale business from the aging Tsukiji Market and provides tourists with an opportunity to observe the market action and to dine at restaurants across its large, modern premises.

 

 

Mori Building Digital Art Museum:
teamLab Borderless

Tokyo 2020 Official Shop

Billed as the world’s first digital art museum and world famous instagrammable spot in Japan! teamLab Borderless is a group of artworks that form one borderless world. Artworks move out of rooms, communicate with other works, influence, and sometimes intermingle with each other with no boundaries.

Official retailers’ outlets in Tokyo where visitors can see and buy a vast range of Tokyo 2020 Official Licensed Products.


 

New National Stadium source: https://tokyo2020.org/jp/games/venue/olympic-stadium/

Ariake Gymnastic Center source: https://tokyo2020.org/jp/games/venue/ariake-gymnastics-centre/

Nippon Budōkan source: https://tokyo2020.org/jp/games/venue/nippon-budokan/

Yoyogi National Gymnasium source: https://tokyo2020.org/jp/games/venue/yoyogi-national-stadium/

Odaiba One-Day tour suggestion source: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3008.html

Toyosu Market source: https://www.japan-guide.com/news/0042.html

Mori Building Digital Art Museum teamLab Borderless source: https://borderless.teamlab.art/

Tokyo 2020 Official Shop source: https://tokyo2020.org/en/special/officialshop/

 

About Visa Inc.  

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device, for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit  About Visa, visa.com/blog and  @VisaNews.