The number of professional fencers is shrinking despite a boom in private fencing clubs in China, according to Wang Haibin, chairman of the Chinese Fencing Association.

In the just concluded 2018 World Fencing Championships, China only pocketed a bronze medal, ranking it in 11th place in the medal table.

The result might not be satisfactory enough, but reflected the state of competitive fencing in China, Wang told China Daily on the last day of the nine-day world tournament held in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province.

"Starting from last September, we reshuffled the national team, as part of the efforts to prepare for the Tokyo Olympic Games, and these athletes are the best that we can find in China and 85 percent of them are pretty young," Wang said.

He revealed that numerous veteran fencers including Ma Jianfei, Xu Anqi and Sun Yujie, were absent from the championships due to reasons such as injuries, highlighting the shortage of highly competitive fencers that has become a major problem pestering China.

The sport of fencing has achieved an explosive growth in popularity in China in the past three or four years, according to Wang, "If measured by the number of clubs, China ranks high among the countries across the world."

In a stark contrast to the boom in the number of fencing clubs, however, the number of professional fencers has plummeted dramatically. Wang pointed out two reasons why this is the case. Firstly, compared to the past, there are only a few provinces and cities still devoting resources to train up professional fencers, he said.

Meanwhile, people increasingly tend to play fencing as amateurs instead of taking it up professionally. "Nowadays plenty of children start to study fencing as a hobby, yet there is a long way to go for them to become national athletes, exceling on the international stage such as the Olympic Games."