Samantha Catantan captured the Philippines' eighth gold and the first medal for the national fencing team after beating Maxine Wong of Singapore in the 31st Southeast Asian Games at the My Dinh Indoor Athletics Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam Saturday, May 14.
Catantan eked out a 14-12 win against 2019 SEA Games silver medalist Maxine Wong of Singapore to eclipse her previous second runner-up finish in the biennial regional meet.
Catantan, who suits up for the Penn State University fencing squad, was dominant from the get-go and defeated homebet Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong of Vietnam in the elimination round, 12-7, before domating eventual bronze medalist Chayanutphat Shinnakerdchoke of Thailand in the semifinal, 15-4.
Meanwhile, Noelito Jose Jr. settled for silver after falling short against reigning men's epee champion Nguyen Tien Nhat of host Vietnam, 15-11.
Jose also surpassed his 2019 SEA Games performance where he finished with bronze here in the Philippines.
He thwarted Singapore's Si To Jian Tong, 15-12, in the elimination round before upsetting and overwhelming 2019 SEA Games silver medalist Joshua Koh I-Jie of Malaysia, 15-5, in the semifinal.