Maxine Esteban finished 71st in a field of 140 fencers at the close of the World Seniors Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico recently.
The 21-year-old Ateneo student won four of six matches in the group stage of the women’s individual foil event to advance in the knockout phase.
Her victories came at the expense of France’s Solene Butruille, 5-4; Mexican Yaretzi Fournet-Fayard, 5-0; Peru’s Chipoco Espinoza, 5-0; and American Sylvie Binder, 5-1.
She yielded to Korean Lim Seungmin, 5-1, and Japanese Chihiro Mori, 5-3.
Esteban earned an opening round bye in the preliminaries before being eliminated in the Round of 16 by Italian Elena Tangherlini, 15-6.
At the Italian Nationals held a week prior, Esteban came in 16th out of 121 participants.
She started her campaign in the knockout rounds by trouncing Daisy Having, 15-4, and Stella Pagnin, 14-8, before encountering stiff competition over Alison Staino, 14-11.
The 2019 Southeast Asian Games team foil bronze medalist eventually lost steam and bowed to Irene De Biaiso, 13-12.
Esteban is set to compete in a number of international tournaments in preparation for the 31st SEAG in Hanoi, Vietnam this May.
Among the tournaments lined up for her are Italian National Lucca Open championship on 12-13 March in Toscana, Italy; Budapest European Senior Fencing on 19-20 March, Brno European U23 Senior Fencing on 26-27 March in the Czech Republic; French National Open on 9 April in Melun, France; Aprile Coupe de Monde on 15 April in Belgrade, Serbia; and a Grand Prix tournament on 13-15 May in Shanghai, China.