Fencers show great fighting spirit

Hans (left) lunging towards Tristan with his sabre.

IT WAS a tough fight between foilist Tristan Cheng and Hans Yoong in the 2017 Federal Territories Open Competition as both showed tremendous fighting qualities in a bid to win the competition.

In the Men’s Foil Individual category final, Tristan suffered a scare when he was denied several match points by Hans who put up a great fight to close the gap after trailing 14-9.

Tension grew when points were being awarded to his opponent, but Tristan managed to stay calm and close the match at 15-13.

(From left) Hans, Tristan, Muhammad Aqil and Andrew with their medals after winning the top four spots in the tournament.

In the semi-finals, Hans denied Muhammad Aqil a place in the final by cruising to a 15-5 victory while Tristan beat Andrew Mok 15-13.

The duo were among 160 fencers who participated in the year’s first fencing tournament organised by Federal Territory Amateur Fencing Association (FTAFA) at the Chin Woo Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.

The Federal Territories Open Competition attracted 160 fencers from Malaysia and Indonesia.

In the Women Epee Individual category, Aisyah Elizabeth Aliansi managed to topple her opponent, Chia Sin Yee, in a gruelling duel, eking out a win by just one point, winning 15-14.

Aisyah beat Wan Nurifina Nabi 15-7, while Sin Yee defeated her younger opponent Julia Yoh 15-11 in the semi-finals to secure a place in the final.

The tournament attracted fencers from other states such as Johor and Terengganu, as well as 15 Indonesian fencers.

From left) Sin Yee, Aisyah, Julia and Wan Nurifina with their medals

It offered 10 categories of competition involving the three weapons – Epee, Foil and Sabre – for men’s and women’s individual categories. There were four team events, including Men’s Epee and Foil team and Women’s Epee and Sabre team.

Organising chairman and FTAFA president Shirely Wong said the competition was a platform for fencers to gear up for future tournaments.

“There are big improvements for some of the fencers, especially the younger ones.

Women fencers battling it out at the open competition.

“Some of the younger fencers showed promise during the competition, and if they are groomed and trained, the sports can progress well in the Klang Valley,” she said.

Wong added that there was a lack of centralised training and funding and this hampered the fencers’ progress when they got older.

“As the fencers get older, the cost for training and tournaments will increase.

“We hope that the Government will act on this,” she said.

Results

Men’s Epee Individual

1 Mohamad Roslan Mohamed

2 Megat Muhammad Aiman Mirza Jung

3 Gilbert Bekking and Jizen Loh

Men’s Foil Individual

1 Tristan Cheng

2 Hans Yoong

3 Andrew Mok and

Muhammad Aqil Anuar

Men Sabre’s Individual

1 Syed Adam Emir Putra

2 Adam Nicholas Lindbichler

3 Luqman Al-Hakeem Alaudin and Zul Arif Zul Adenan

Men’s Epee Team

1 Jung Fencing Center

2 Spartan A

3 DKI Jakarta

4 Spartan B

Men’s Foil Team

1 Blade Bad Kids

2 Blade High Performance

3 Blade Snow White &

2 Dwarfs

4 Blade Low Performance

Women’s Epee Individual

1 Aisyah Elizabeth Aliansi

2 Chia Sin Yee

3 Julia Loh Jaselin Khairi Loh

and Wan Nurifina Nabilah Ahmad Arafaatzila

Women’s Foil Individual

1 Natasha Ezra Abu Bakar

2 Oktavira Rachman

3 Amirah Sofea Ahmad Puad and Ivy Cheah Hsiao Yong

Women’s Sabre Individual

1 Dinda Maulidya Putri Maharani Aliansi

2 Nurafrina Abu Bakar

3 Azzeldine Aliya Zahira Aliansi and Rao Jing Hui

Women’s Epee Team

1 Aliansi Indonesia Fencing Club

2 Team Astro

3 SSTMI Johor

Women’s Sabre Team

1 Aliansi Indonesia Fencing Club

2 SSTMI Johor

3 GA Fencing