Pinay fencer falls short, settles for bronze medal
SAMANTHA Catantan, the Philippines’ biggest fencing star at the moment, fell short of clinching a Tokyo Olympics berth in the Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifiers at Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Sunday.
The young Penn State standout settled for the bronze medal after absorbing a tough 10-15 loss against tournament top seed Yana Alborova of Uzbekistan in the women’s foil semifinals.
Despite the setback, coach Amat Canlas firmly believes that the 19-year old Catantan, a former UAAP girls fencing MVP from University of the East, will get better and stronger to aim for a slot in 2024 Paris Games.
“Congratulations, Samantha Kyle Catantan. Taas noo sa magandang laban na binigay mo. Keep up the good work at makukuha din natin ito,” Canlas posted on his Facebook account.
In pool play, Catantan won all but one of her five bouts to advance to the knockout stage. After drawing a round of 16 bye, Catantan bested Chinese Taipei’s Hsin Cheng, 10-6, in the quarterfinals.
Two Filipino male fencers, on the other hand, were also eliminated in the chase for Olympic tickets.
CJ Concepcion bowed to Australia’s Alexandre Douglas in the men’s sabre round of 16, 9-15.
A silver medalist in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, Concepcion’s two wins in seven pool play bouts was enough to make it to the knockout rounds.
Noelito Jose Jr. was not as fortunate as he suffered a narrow 14-15 defeat from the hands of Iraq’s Mohsin Abbas in the men’s epee round of 16. Jose hurdled three of his five bouts in pool play.
The Philippines’ bid to have a Olympian fencer for the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Games now hinges on Jylyn Nicanor, Hanniel Abella and Nathaniel Perez.
A SEA Games gold medalist two years ago, Nicanor will represent the country in the women’s sabre, Abella will compete in the women’s epee, while Perez will play in the men’s foil event.
