By Ryan Quek/Fencing Singapore

Jurong East Sports and Cultural Centre, Thursday, March 15, 2012 — Choy Yuyong, 15, beat Yeo Yilei of Pasir Ris Crest Secondary 15-13 in an all-Singaporean Men’s Sabre final at the Cadet World Cup.

Yuyong, who started fencing only three years ago was understandably elated.

“I wasn’t expecting too much from myself at this competition because there were many strong fencers from other countries. So to win it was a great moment for me,” said Yuyong, a student from Hwa Chong Institution.

Lau Cheung Kang of Hong Kong and Christopher Rosin took home the bronzes.

In the men’s epee event, Wong Tsz Ho and Chow Tsz Hei overcame local fencers Phua Helixman and Lev Panfilov in the semi-finals to setup a one-two finish for the Hong Kong team. Helixman, 16, was leading 12-8 against his Hong Kong opponent but unfortunately lost his focus towards the end and eventually lost 13-15.

A disappointed Helixman said: “I was not able sustain my good start and started to get a little tired at the end but all credit to my opponent for his good performance. I will continue to work hard and hope to do better at the World Junior Championships in Moscow at the end of the month.”

Fencing Singapore’s Technical Director Gabor Salamon was pleased to see the good showing from the Singapore fencers.

“Today’s results show that we have a good crop of youngsters and this augurs well for Singapore to achieve medal winning performances in future major games,” said Salamon.

In the final event of the day, Isabella Chung from the United States showed her class by beating Hong Kong’s Lau Cheuk Yu 15-10 in the Women’s Foil final. Isabella beat Kaoru Nara from Japan in the semi-finals while Lau Cheuk Yu earlier denied 14-year-old Nicole Wong of the Singapore Sports School a chance in the final by beating her 15-14 in a nail biting semi-final.

The Cadet World Cup is into its third year. The competition was created in 2010 as a warm-up event to the 2010 Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore in August 2010. Last year’s event saw 185 participants while this year’s has more than 200 fencers aged 17-and-under from Hong Kong, United States, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Australia and hosts Singapore, competing in foil, epee and sabre as individuals and also teams.