Two club teams from the Philippines snared two gold medals on the last day of the 1st Malaysian Fencing Federation Minime International Tournament at the Arena Tan Sri Hamzah gymnasium inside the Olympic Council Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
Fencers from the Club Canlas Fencing A and Team Modern Pentathlon turned back separate rivals in the team competitions, with their effort sending the Philippines to a second place finish overall behind top finisher, host Malaysia.
Sophia Catantan, the younger sister of top Filipino fencer Samantha Catantan, repulsed Kwok Sze Yi, 10-4, to help lift CCF-A to a 44-43 win over Hong Kong in the finals of the under-16 women’s team foil action.
Team MP drew big points from Rex de la Cruz Jr., Joseph Godbout and Armand Putian for a 46-36 stopping of Blade KL in under-16 men’s team epee event.
The gold medals gave the Philippines a total haul of eight golds, eight silvers and 20 bronzes.
They are behind Malaysia, which dominated with its 11-7-29 performances. Hong Kong is third with its 6-5-2 tally.
University of the East and Canlas A also took home silvers in the women’s under-16 sabre, under-16 women’s epee and in the men’s 16-under foil.
The young Sophia picked up a silver medal after she teammates from UE absorbed a 44-45 setback to Korea in the women’s under-16 finals.
CF-A fell to SG Academy of Singapore, 37-45, in the women’s under-16 epee gold medal round.
Canlas Fencing -A also went down, 35-45, to Blade KL in the men’s under-16 foil finals.
The Louis Shoemaker-led CF-A settled for a bronze medal in the men’s under saber action, after bowing to eventual gold medal winner, Valor Fencing of Malaysia, 37-45.