Qiang initially advanced from Pool 16 with two victories before beating France’s Vincent Simon 15-10 and then Australia’s Edward Fitzgerald 15-9 to secure his place in the main draw at the Minato-ku Sports Center.

Second seed Richard Kruse of Great Britain also learned who his last-64 opponent will be with China’s Li Chen earning the right to face him.

Li progressed from Pool 4 with two victories prior to defeating Italy’s Damiano Rosatelli 15-12 and France’s Alexandre Sido 15-14.

The individual event is scheduled to continue tomorrow through to the final.

It will be followed by the team competition on Sunday (January 27).

Action also begun today at the FIE Women’s Foil World Cup in St-Maur in France.

The United States’ Morgan Partridge is due to meet top-seeded Italian Alice Volpi, the reigning world champion, in the last-64.

Partridge clinched her place in the main draw with a 15-13 win over Spain’s Maria Marino.

Second seed Inna Deriglazova of Russia will first have to overcome Hungary’s Flora Pásztor, who beat Czech Republic’s Andrea Bímová 15-3 in the last preliminary round.

Like in Tokyo, the individual event in St-Maur is scheduled to continue tomorrow through to the final.

It will be followed by the team competition on Sunday.