Ho, the reigning world junior foil champion, defeated Japan’s Masashi Maeda 15-8 in the gold medal bout at the Dakar Expo Centre.
The 17-year-old’s triumph marks the SAR’s first-ever individual fencing gold in the history of the Youth Olympics, with the city having previously claimed two fencing silvers in the 2014 and 2018 editions of the quadrennial event.
Ho’s win caps off a dominant run in the competition, going five and one in the group stage to enter the quarter-finals as the second seed.
The SAR star brushed aside the Czech Republic’s Krystof Novak 15-2 in the quarter-finals, before beating Cyprus’s Aris Kiayias 15-10 in the last four.
The landmark victory also builds on a phenomenal year for Ho, who won the Cadet World Championship title in April, and further cements him as a top contender ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Ho’s podium finish marks the SAR’s fourth overall medal of this year’s Youth Olympics, with podium finishes in wushu, table tennis and swimming.
