Fencers Samantha Catantan and Maxine Esteban face a tall order of competing against higher-ranked opponents in the early stages of the women’s foil event in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

There will be 34 fencers in the event, and the 31st to 34th players will go through elimination process via crossover to decide who will advance in the Direct Elimination Final 32.

The DE Final 32 will also be competed via crossover.

Catantan and Esteban may fall into the lower bracket of the rankings, and may face more experienced fencers particularly from Italy, host France and the United States, including world No. 1 Fil-American Lee Kiefer.

There is also the slightest possibility of Catantan crossing paths with Esteban, her former teammate who now plays for Ivory Coast.

The 22-year-old Catantan said she is looking forward to it, saying that they still remain very good friends.

“It’s an external factor that we don’t have any control of, and if ever na magtatapat po kami, syempre in a normal tournament, we’re rivals pero only on the strip, but outside of that, we’re very good friends,” Catantan said on Tuesday, May 21.

“No matter what po I'm very excited to fence any of them kasi alam ko naman pong hindi naman po sila nakarating ng Olympics dahil di nila deserved eh,” she added. 

Catantan earned a berth to Paris after topping the Asia Oceania Qualification in Fujairah, UAE last month, while Esteban secured a ticket as the highest ranked fencer in the African zone.

The two fencers represented the Philippines multiple times including in the 2021 Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam where they bannered the women’s team foil to a silver medal.

Aiming to beef up her Olympic preparations, Catantan said she is invited to train with the Italian team on June 12 to 29 in Venice.

After her training stint in Italy, she will join her coach Amat Canlas in France, along with the rest of the Filipino qualifiers, for a month-long training in Metz.