Fencing: Singapore pick up 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze in team events

Contributed by Ryan Quek

Singapore Institute of Management, Saturday, August 6, 2011 — The first day of team competition at the Fencing Singapore International 2011 saw Singapore fencers pick up one gold, two silvers and one bronze to add to the seven medals won in the individual events over the past two days.

The women’s foil team of Ruth Ng, Wang Wenying, Cheryl Wong and Joan Ang dominated the final against the Macau team to bag the second gold for the Republic in this competition. The Singapore team never looked in trouble from start to finish and won the match 44-25.

The men’s epee team comprising Lim Weiwen, Samson Lee, Mikail Ling and Wang Zhihua put up a spirited fight against the Hong Kong team in the semi-finals to win 45-36 to qualify for the final. In the final, the formidable Chinese proved too strong for Singapore and the team had to settle for the silver medal after losing 26-45.

Coach Zhao Zhizhong was satisfied with his charges performances in this competition. He said: “The boys fenced reasonably well today and there was no shame losing to the Chinese team, who were a class above the rest.”

On the team’s prospects in the upcoming SEA Games, Zhao said: “ Some of our fencing today was very encouraging to see and with a few more months of hard work, I am confident the we will do well.”

Earlier in the day, Ann Lee, Sharmaine Cheung, Felicia Yam and Charlotte Teo also came unstuck against the Chinese in the final of the women’s Sabre team event. Despite the efforts of team captain Ann, the young team was unable to pose a serious challenge to Chinese team, eventually losing 17-45.

Ann, also a silver medallist in the individual event, said: “The team is young but I’m confident we will learn our lessons very quickly in the next few months in order to achieve our SEA Games targets.”

Securing a bronze medal for the men’s sabre team was Clive Leu, Muhd Farhan, Derrick Liao and Ernest Chua who lost 24-45 in the semi-finals to the Chinese team.

With two more team events to go on the final day of the Fencing Singapore International, Singapore teams look on track to pick up a few more medals in the Men’s Foil and Women’s Epee team events.