By NIKOLE JAVIER
The Philippine fencing team has once again impressed in the Southeast Asian Fencing Federation Championships after two podium finishes in the team events on Sunday, Jan. 8, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The team, led by Juliana Gomez, daughter of former national fencer, actor and politician Richard Gomez, along with Alexa Larrazabal, Princess Arbilon and Ivy Dinoy took the silver medal after falling short to Vietnam in the senior women’s eppe finals while Andre Agatep, Thomas Cabrera, Raphael Jimenez and Enrico Suplico suffered the same defeat at the hands of the Vietnamese, 45-18, in the semifinals to settle for the bronze medal in the senior men’s saber team event.
The PH women’s team had an easy start to the event after earning a first-round bye and went on to beat Indonesia in the semifinals in a close 45-41 victory to advance to the finals.
However, the Vietnamese didn’t take long to claim the gold finish with a 36-25 beating over the Filipinas.
Meanwhile, the PH men’s team had a promising start with a 45-35 victory over the host country Malaysia before crushing on the next round against the eventual champion Vietnam.