Singapore’s national women’s foil team brings home silver in Fencing Singapore International

Story by REDintern Shaun Neo.

The rest of the National Women’s Foil Team watch on intensely as the final bout proceeds. (Photo 1 © Jonathan Tam)

NTU Sports and Recreation Center, Saturday, July 12, 2008 – For the seventh year running, Fencing Singapore organised the annual Fencing Singapore International, an event that featured more than 300 athletes from 11 countries in previous years. To conclude the third day of the competition, the Women’s Foil Team A, comprising Wang Wen Ying, Ruth Ng, Tay Yu Ling and Liane Wong, finished second after losing to the team from Hong Kong.

Team B, comprising Joan Ang, Cheryl Wong, Serene Ser and Bliss Tan, was joint-third with the team from Thailand after losing to Singapore’s Team A in the semi-finals. Apart from the women’s foil team, the men’s Ãƒâ€°pÃƒÂ©e team was able to achieve a medal with a third place finish too.

The Women’s Foil Team A started off the competition with an easy 45-12 win over Qatari in the quarter-finals. Wang Wen Ying started off the match by establishing a 5-1 lead against Qatar. Fellow teammates, Liane Wong, Tay Yu Ling and Ruth Ng, followed suit, taking turns to increase their lead. Ruth Ng outfought her opponents to obtain perfect 5-0 bouts for the team. Displaying similar ability was the team’s youngest, Liane Wong, as she ended the Qataris’ misery with another 5-0 bout.

Team B, while faced with stronger opposition from Hong Kong, still managed to advance to the next round with a 45-22 score.

The semi-finals, however, saw an unwanted situation with both our women’s teams facing each other, guaranteeing the loss of one Singapore team.

Despite being a younger team, Team B started the bout with a lead of 4-2, established by Serene Ser. However, with a more experienced team, Team A regained the lead with Ruth Ng managing a 6-0 bout. Team A never looked back as they increased their lead in subsequent bouts by three points each. At the end of the fifth bout, the score stood at 24-13 in favour of Team A.

Nonetheless, Team B never gave up as Bliss Tan closed the gap to right points, despite facing a more experienced Ruth Ng (Team A). While Joan Ang (Team B) closes the gap by another point in the seventh bout, Team A stood their ground and re-established a firm lead of 13 points in the eight bout. In the last bout, despite Cheryl Wong’s (Team B) effort to catch up, time ran out and Team A advanced to the final to meet Hong Kong.

In the final, Singapore Team A started aggressively and quickly established a 10-4 lead through Wen Ying and Ruth. However, the lead began to diminish as Hong Kong picked up the pace. As a result, the score was tied at 13-13 at the end of the third bout. Unable to pick themselves up in the face of intense competition, Team A continued to fall behind after the fifth bout. The sixth bout was a crucial moment for Singapore as they faced Lin Po Heung from the Hong Kong team. Lin, in the individual event two days ago, defeated Singapore’s best foil fencers Tay Yu Ling, Wang Wen Ying and Ruth Ng.

However, Ruth Ng, who is ranked first in Singapore, was ready for the challenge. Having faced each other before, both fencers were highly cautious in the bout with only a total of four points scored. Fortunately, the match up was to Singapore’s advantage as Ruth managed to tie the overall score at 26 points each.

With renewed motivation, Yu Ling picked up her game as she managed to give Singapore the lead with a 4-2 bout. With Wen Ying extending the lead to four points and Ruth Ng to fence next, victory seemed to be within Singapore’s reach. However, Ruth struggled in the bout after scoring the first point. Gradually, Hong Kong inched their way back to tie the game at 36 points.

On a hot streak, the team from Hong Kong responded after Ruth scored to tie the game at 37 points each. With one second left, Hong Kong managed to score a point, leaving Singapore with minimal hope for the win. In the end, Singapore lost to Hong Kong by a single point at 37-38, and had to settle for the silver medal.