Despite the tough opponents, Nona Lim
(pictured) finished in very respectable 15th place in the individual
event. (Photo: SSC File Photo)
In the final day of the Asian Fencing Championships, Singapore’s
national men’s epee and women’s sabre fencers fought hard in yesterday’s team
event, but came up short against tough opposition. The men’s epee team lost two matches to Iran and Thailand but
came back to defeat Chinese Taipei and Malaysia to finish in 11th
placing overall. Last year’s Commonwealth Silver medallist Lim Weiwen said: “The
team did not do too badly today and if only we were able to string together a
few good bouts, the outcome against Thailand would have been very different”.
The team lost to Thailand 45-43 in an exciting finish before they faced
Malaysia
During the 11th-12th placing match,
Singapore weathered a late comeback attempt by the Malaysians to eventually prevail
as winners, clinching the tie 44-39. David Chan, Team Manager of the Singapore
contingent, said: “The epee team showed tremendous determination even when they
were evidently tired out from the earlier bouts. I was pleased to see their
strong fighting spirit and I’m sure this performance will spur them to train
even harder before SEA Games later this year.”
In the women’s sabre team event, Singapore struggled to gain
an early foothold and had to play catch-up in all their matches. Despite their
best efforts, the team lost to Kahzakstan 45-31 and also lost narrowly to
Chinese Taipei and Indonesia to finish 7th place overall. Singapore’s
Nona Lim, who finished in a very respectable 15th place during the individual event, was
disappointed but was pleased that the two new members to the team gained
invaluable lessons against tough opponents. She said: “Though we were not able
to win today, we were able to assess where our weaknesses are and where we
stand as a team against our opponents.” She added: “There is a lot of work to
be done but we are confident we can achieve our goals.”
In previous day’s matches, the men’s foil team defeated
South East Asian rivals Malaysia and Indonesia with ease but were unable to
overcome their superior opponents from South Korea. The team eventually finished
their Asian Championships campaign ranked 7th overall. In the women’s
epee team event, Singapore posted one victory and three losses to exit the
competition ranked in 14th place.