KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Young Filipino fencers showed they can hold their own against the region’s best, winning five gold, seven silver and 13 bronze medals at the Southeast Asian Fencing Federation (SEAFF) Junior and Cadet Championships at Arena TSH OCM.
Oscar del Castillo led the Philippines’ campaign, winning silver in the under-21 junior men’s epee individual event before claiming gold in the under-17 cadet men’s epee.
The 16-year-old del Castillo lost to Singapore’s Benjamin Lee, 15-11, in the junior men’s epee final Monday. He bounced back with a 15-8 victory over Vietnam’s Do Dang Khoi in the cadet men’s epee final Friday.
Willa Galvez won bronze in the junior women’s foil, while Hagia del Castillo took silver in the cadet women’s foil. Victoria Ebdane and Yuna Canlas each won bronze.
Galvez, whose overseas competitions are supported by Nickel Asia Corp., with backing from Converge, NLEX Corp., Rain or Shine, MVP Sports Foundation, Strong Group Athletics, Pocari Sweat and Icons Sports Management Services, beat Singapore’s Sita Naidu Maaravis, 15-14, in the quarterfinals.
She then lost, 15-8, to eventual champion Suraya Rizzal of Malaysia’s national team.
Hagia del Castillo fell short of gold after losing, 15-7, to Malaysia’s Oo Chin Yu in the final. She had beaten Ebdane, 15-3, in the semifinals, while Canlas lost to Oo, 15-5, in the other semifinal.
Don Geronimo, Jethro Chan and Papina Torre also won bronze in the cadet individual events in men’s epee, men’s foil and women’s epee, respectively.
Strong showing in team events
The Filipinos also dominated several team events.
Galvez, Ebdane and Jodie Tan won gold in the junior women’s foil, while Ebdane, Tan, Canlas and Del Castillo claimed gold in the cadet women’s foil.
Khiane Felipe teamed with Vito Coching, Drake Chung and Matthew General to win the junior men’s sabre. Del Castillo, Joaquin de Silos, Jacob Mayo and Li Jiashu captured gold in the cadet men’s epee.
Galvez, Christine May Morales and Victoria Malvar took silver in the cadet women’s foil, while Papina Torre, Eleina Junia and Faith Olemos won silver in the women’s epee.
Estelliah Gilliana, Hailey Peters, Arianna Tiu and Nadelle Turiano also took silver in the junior women’s sabre.
Chung, Marcus Co Say, Erlon Mallari and Sean Ragos won silver in the cadet men’s sabre. At the same time, Ryona Salvante, Elise Acuzar, Ruth Nierras and Gillana also took silver in the cadet women’s sabre.
The Philippines added bronze medals in several team events.
Geronimo, Mayo, de Silos and Del Castillo won bronze in junior men’s team epee; Canlas, Del Castillo and Malvar in junior women’s foil; and Junia, Olemos, Torre and Rhiana Cruz in junior women’s epee.
Inigo Divinagracia, Lucas Palafox, Elijah Timbol and Chan also took bronze in junior men’s foil.
Cruz, Summer Feliciano and Chiara Guidote won bronze in cadet women’s epee; Luis Clemente, Ynigo Estrada and Qody Omengan won bronze in cadet men’s sabre; while Chan, Palafox and Yohann Roldan added another bronze in cadet men’s foil.
