Contributed by Ryan Quek

Hong Kong, Sunday, June 19, 2011 — With less than four months to go to the 2011 SEA Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, Singapore fencers delivered a welcome boost to their preparations during the weekend of competition at the Hong Kong Fencing Open 2011.

It was an all-Singaporean Final in the Men’s Foil individual event with Wu Jie, 30, clinching the Gold medal when he beat National teammate, TanYuan Zi. Wu Jie, who only finished in 10th place in the same competition last year, eventually defeated Yuan Zi 15-11 in the final. Wu Jie and Yuan Zi led Matthew Lam, who finished in 6th, and Eugene Choo in the top-16 placings. There were a total of 81 fencers in the Men’s foil individual event.

Wu Jie said this result will give him even greater motivation in his preparations for the SEA Games.

“The Gold and Silver medals are strong indicators that the team’s preparations are well on track and we will continue to work hard to achieve our goals,” said Wu Jie.

Fencing Singapore president Nicholas Fang remarked: “This result is the outcome of the team’s hard work from the beginning of the year and we are confident they will continue to do so as we strive towards SEA Games in November.”

In the Women’s Epee event, Nicolette Soh, a first year student at Nanyang Technological University, took home the Bronze medal after losing to the tournament 2nd seed, Hong Kong’s Kong Muan Wai, 15-5.

Nicolette progressed to the semi-finals by beating national team mate and 2010 YOG representative Rania Rahardja, in a nail-biting quarterfinals, 15-14.

Nicolette said: “This bronze medal was certainly unexpected but I feel I have definitely displayed some of my best form during this competition. Making the SEA Games team is my main goal and this result will put me in a good position to do so.”

Singapore women’s epee number one Ann Melbye ended her run in the competition in the round of 8 when she was defeated by tournament top seed Yueng Chui Ling of Hong Kong, 15-13.

She said: “It was a close match and it was down to a few key points which swung the match her way. I am a little disappointed with the result but I am heartened by my teammates’ performances.”

In the women’s foil individual event, Ruth Ng, was overcome by cramps in her semi-final and had to concede the match against top seed Lin Po Heung. Singapore’s Wang Wenying was similarly defeated by Lin in the quarter-finals and eventually finished 8th.

Ruth displayed some impressive fencing in the round of 8 when she dismissed 2nd seed To Pui Yin 15-8 and looked set to better her 2010 bronze medal result, but she suffered her injury early in the bout against Lin and could not complete the match.

Fencing Singapore was represented in all six events at the Hong Kong Fencing Open — the men’s and women’s foil, epee and sabre. The Hong Kong Open was held on June 18th and 19th, 2011.