Story by Nicole Lum/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Lim Wei Wen took home silver after a 8–15 defeat in the final. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
OCBC Arena, Wednesday, June 3, 2015 — Singapore’s Lim Wei Wen was overwhelmed by Nguyen Tien Nhat of Vietnam 8–15 in the Men’s Individual Epee final at the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
To make the final, Lim had a close fight against Thailand’s Chamcharern Panthawit. While Lim pulled away to a substantial six-point lead in the beginning, he fumbled after the break and allowed a more composed Chamcharern to narrow the deficit. However, Lim’s advantage proved to be too large for his opponent, and he advanced to the final with a 15–14 win.
Nguyen pressured Lim with his aggressive attacks during the final. After the break, Lim was unable to offset Nguyen’s moves, and the latter to pull away. A last counter attack by Nguyen gave the Vietnamese the 15–8 victory.
Lim’s teammate Samson Lee also finished on the podium in third place, after he lost 9–15 to Nguyen in the semi-finals.
“I’m happy, yet sad. I’m sad because I didn’t get the (gold) medal,” said Lim, who won Singapore’s first Asian Games fencing medal in 2014. “But I’m happy because I didn’t let my supporters down. They saw my sweat and hard work. Even though I lost, I will come back much stronger, continue to work hard and never give up.”
“He (Vietnam’s Nguyen) found the right tactics actually. He caught me off-guard. He just attacked without my preparation and that is something important for me because I’m a fencer who is calm and steady and does a lot of preparation,” Lim added.
The pair knows each other well.
“We actually trained in Korea for a month together. He really outplayed me as he told himself that he had nothing to lose because he’s just fencing a teammate. Still, I’m really happy for him,” said Lim.
Lim revealed that he has been suffering from ankle and knee problems. “But I won’t let that kind of pain pull me down,” he explained, “Whenever i feel pain, I’ll just look at the crowd. They are my painkiller.”
“I can’t wait to thank my supporters and let them know that I really appreciate the support,” he added.
Lim will next participate in the Men’s Team Epee event on Saturday, June 6, from 1.00 pm, at the OCBC Arena.
“We are fully motivated. We saw the crowd over here and we saw how our teammates fared today.”
“My teammate Samson Lee got the bronze and I got the silver. If we were to rank our team, we’d be ranked number two. I have a feeling that it is going to be quite smooth because everyone is equal here,” added Lim.
“This is the first time that there are this many countries in Southeast Asia competing in the Men’s Epee. I give them a lot of respect, but if we were to fence them we would go all out. We are not going to let our guard down,” Lim concluded.
Men’s Individual Epee results
1st Nguyen Tien Nhat (Vietnam)
2nd Lim Wei Wen (Singapore)
3rd Chamcharern Panthawit (Thailand)
3rd Lee Mun Hou Samson (Singapore)
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