MANILA -- The women's foil team composed of Samantha Kyle Catantan, Maxine Isabel Esteban, Maricar Matienzo and Anica Abaquin pocketed the bronze medal in the Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships which was held from Feb. 24 to March 4 at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Philippines shared the bronze medal with Korea (Choi Minseo, Kim Chae-yeon, Kim Hyi-yeon and Kim Na-yeong).
The Philippines downed the Hong Kong squad composed of Pui Shan Chan, Christelle Joy Ko, Yu Ching Kua and Sophia Wu, 38-34 to advance in the semifinal round against Japan.
But the Japanese team of Rio Azuma, Sera Azuma, Sumier Tsuji and Yuka Ueno displayed its superiority by posting a 45-16 victory over the Philippines.
In the final round, Japan downed the Singaporean team of Amita Berthier, Maxine Jie Xin Wong, Nicole Mae Hui Shan Wong and Tatiana Yu Rong Wong, 45-31.
Japan had a first-round bye and scored a 45-6 victory over India (Riya Bakshi, Kajal Kajal, Simranjeet Kaur and Echal Thokchom) in the second round.
Singapore, on the other hand, won over Jordan (Shahed Alkloub, Genan Aysha and Dina Mansi), 45-10, in the first round, Chinese Taipei (Hsin Chang, Yu Ru Lei, Jo-Chen Wu and Chin Man Yang), 45-28, in the second round and Korea, 45-37, in the semifinal.
Korea won over Kazakhstan (Dana Kakenova, Kristina Provodnikova, Kulzhan Tussupbekova and Viktoriya Zinova), 45-24 in the second round to reach the semifinal.
"Overall, maganda po nilaro ng team natin. Malaki yun jump ng performance nila. Sa individual, natatalo tayo by 1 point 15-14 against mga powerhouse like Korea and even Hong Kong and Japan and other countries. Step by step, makakarating ang team sa podium basta tuluy-tuloy lang ang ginagawa namin program and continuous ang support ng government," said head coach Rolando Canlas on Monday before boarding the plane at the Dubai International Airport.
Canlas was assisted by Almario Vizcayno, Ramil Endriano and Edward Daliva during the tournament, which was organized by the UAE Fencing Federation and the Dubai Sports Council under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the President of the National Olympic Committee.
"The tournament in Dubai is part of our Asian Games preparations," said Canlas, also head coach of UE. “Our fencers are also scheduled to compete in the World Championships in Italy this April.”
Catantan is one of the country's best junior fencers. She won the silver while Esteban took the bronze during the Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia last year.
The 17-year-old Catantan is a two-time Most Valuable Player awardee, having led the University of the East girls team to its seventh consecutive title in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines last month. (PNA)
