THE Philippines won the women’s foil and men’s saber team gold medals and bagged two silver and four bronze medals in the Southeast Asian Fencing Federation (SEAFF) Cadet and Junior championship on Tuesday at the Arena TSH OCM in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Victoria Ebdane, Willa Galvez and Jodie Tan beat Vietnam, 44-37, in the women’s team foil gold medal play, while Khiane Felipe, Vito Coching, Drake Chung and Matthew General defeated Thailand, 45-40, in the men’s team saber final.
Oscar del Castillo clinched silver medal in men’s individual epee and bronze medal with Joaquin De Silos, Jacob Mayo and Boo Geronimo in men’s team epee.
Estelliah Gilliana, Hailey Sophia Peters, Arianna Tiu and Nadelle Turiano also gave Team Philippines a silver medal in women’s saber team event.
Bagging bronze medals were Team B of Canlas, Del Castillo and Malvar got bronze in women’s foil; Rhiana Cruz, Eleina Junia, Faith Olemos and Papina Torre in women’s epee; and Inigo Divinagracia, Lucas Palafox, Jethro Chan and Elijah Timbol in men’s foil.
Galvez-backed by Nickel Asia Corp., NLEX Corp., Rain or Shine, MVP Sports Foundation, Strong Group Athletics, Pocari Sweat and Icons Sports Management Services-also earned a bronze medal in women’s individual foil at the expense Singapore’s Sita Naidu Maaravis, 15-14, in the quarterfinals but lost to eventual gold medalist and Malaysia national team member Suraya Rizzal, 15-8.
After dispatching Philippines Team B of Yuna Canlas, Hagia del Castillo and Victoria Malvar in a nail-biting 29-28 triumph in the semifinals, Philippines Team A was in full control all throughout the finals match.
Protecting a slim 9-6 lead, the 15-year-old Galvez – a member of the multi-titled fencing team University of the East – outscored 10-1 her opponent Nguyen Thi Anh Thu on the fourth of nine bouts that gave the Philippines a comfortable 19-7 advantage.
Galvezaccounted for 21 of the team’s total touch points, Ebdane added 13 points while Tan had 10 points.