It was a mix of emotions for US NCAA standout Samantha Catantan when she reached the semifinals of the women’s foil event of the 2021 Asia-Oceania Olympic fencing qualifiers, where she eventually settled for the bronze.
For one, Catantan had a shot at a slot to the Tokyo Olympics during her stint with members of the Philippine national team on Sunday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The 19-year-old Catantan, however, was faced with the huge task of beating top-seeded Yana Alborova for a finals seat.
Unfortunately for Catantan, the 27-year-old Alborova took the lead early and prevailed, 15-10, to advance to the championship round.
“Mixed emotion ako. Masaya ako dahil naka-podium finish tayo. Malungkot dahil alam ko kaya natin makuha ‘yun slot for Tokyo. Hindi pa siguro ito ‘yung time,” said Catantan in a message to the Manila Standard.
Catantan earlier upset 2019 Southeast Games gold medallist Amitha Berthier of Singapore during the pool B preliminaries to reach the second round with a 5-1 win-loss record.
From there, the fourth-seeded Catantan took a bye in the Round of 16 and outplayed Hsin Cheng of Taiwan, 10-6, to reach the semis.
On the other hand, Berthier recovered from her 4-5 setback to Catantan and made it past the first round off her 5-1 slate.
Berthier went on to reach the finals after she fought off Mona Shaito of Lebanon, 1-4.
The 20-year-old Berthier eventually claimed the lone slot to the Tokyo Olympics after outpointing Alborova, 15-14, in the championship round.
National coach Amatov Canlas said other chances to make it to the Olympics await Catantan in the future.
“Hindi pa siguro ito ‘yung time pero naniniwala ako na sa Paris 2024, hinog na hinog na si Sam,” said Canlas.
Catantan started off her campaign with a bang, pulling off a 5-0 rout of Vietnam’s Thi Thu Phung before easing out Kimberley Cheung of Hong Kong, 5-4.
A 5-1 beating of Thailand’s Chayanulphat Shinnakerchoke followed, before Catantan took her only loss so far to Lebanon’s Mona Shaito.
Then, she capped her preliminary campaign with a 5-1 win over Iran’s Negin Kafi and a 5-4 triumph over Berthier, who outplayed Catantan during the 2019 SEA Games in Manila.
Catantan is one of the country’s top bets in fencing because of her memorable stint with Penn State University, which took runner-up honors in Division 1 of the US NCAA competitions.
After this, Catantan placed 20th in Egypt two weeks ago.
Only Catantan has so far won a medal in the Uzbek tourney after CJ Concepcion made it to the Round of 16 before taking a 9-15 loss to Alexandre Douglas of Australia in the men’s sabre.
Noelito Jos absorbed a 14-15 loss to Mohsin Abbas of Iraq to end his campaign in the men’s sabre.
In Monday’s action, Jyln Nicanor settled for ninth place after bowing to Lin Hin Wai of Hong Kong, 12-15, in the women’s sabre quarterfinals.
