Young fencers who can become the future of Philippine fencing are coming out and showing a lot of promise.
Former national team coach Amat Canlas said this after two clubs, Canlas Fencing and Modern Pentathlon Philippines returned home with nine gold medals in the recent 1st Malaysian Fencing Federation Minime International Tournament.
“We’re very happy with the turnout, with the performance of our young fencers. These fencers are the future of Philippine fencing and we saw how they fought to give honor to our country,” said Canlas, co-founder of CF with Sally Aramburo.
Sophie “Opao” Catantan and Antonio Manuel captured two gold medals each in their respective age brackets in 14-under women and under-16 individual foil, while Zoe Atilano bagged the gold in her age group in the under women’s sabre.
Aside from their gold medals, Catantan, Manuel and Atilano also earned silver medals – with Catantan, Fernandez, Victoria Ebdane, and Jodie Tan settling for second place in the U14 team women’s foul.
Adrianne Lising, Sofie Santiago, and Atilano had runner-up finishes in the U16 WS team.
Aside from her silver in the U16, Atilano also got the same medal in the U14 WS with Kyra Cleto, Medivh Boy, and Clara Yao.
Antonio Manuel got the silver in U16 MF with Lim, Louis Shoemaker, and Antonio de Luna.
Ivana Salvador, Tina Bueno, Jana Uy, and Nina Canlas got silver in the U16 women’s epee team. Also with silver medals are Tan in U12 WF individual and Gale in U14 MF individual.
There were 18 bronze medals courtesy of Fernandez with two while Catantan, Lim, Salvador, Bueno, Ebdane, Hagia and Oscar del Rosario, Yuna Canlas, Morgan Uy, Elijah Timbol, Diego Son and Nicol Canlas had one each.
CF Team B anchored by Willa Liana Galvez with Aliyah Diaz, Marian Castro, and Skye Del Villar got a bronze in the U14 women’s team foil event.
Miguel Chavez, Enrico Fuentes, and Faber Cabrera in the U16 men’s epee team, Son, Simon del Villar and Diego Marcelo.
Backed by NLEX, San Miguel Corporation, Rain or Shine, Converge, and Smart Sports, 11-year-old Galvez snared her second medal in a week.
Two weeks ago, Galvez won her first individual gold by ruling the U12 women’s foil in Republic Fencing’s Young Musketeers Series 2022 last November 29 in Quezon City.