Vietnam, Singapore Repeat 2015 Fencing Gold Medal Feat

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 (Bernama) -- Vietnam and Singapore have successfully defended their gold medals in men’s individual sabre and women’s individual foil events respectively at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games fencing competition which began Monday. Vietnam’s Vu Thanh An who was the 2015 gold medalist, defeated Voragun Srinualnad of Thailand 15-6 in the men’s individual sabre final for the gold. Ahmad Huzaifah Saharudin of Singapore and Nguyen Xuan Loi of Vietnam shared the bronze medal after losing in the semi-finals. In the women’s individual foil, Singapore‘s Amita Marie Nicolette Berthier subdued Samantha Kyle Catantan of Philippines 15-7 to bag the gold medal while Maxine Isabel Esteban of Philippines and Nicole Mae Wong Hui Shan of Singapore shared the event’s bronze. When met by reporters, Vu said he had always reminded himself of the responsibility of carrying the country the flag as podium champion. “This means I am carrying the hopes of the people of Vietnam to Kuala Lumpur to repeat my success in Singapore two years ago,” he said as translated by an officer. Meanwhile, Amita, 16, said she drew her inspiration from Singapore’s 2015 fencing gold medal success. Earlier, national men’s individual sabre athlete Syed Adam Emir Putra Aidi Putra was eliminated in the last 16 knockout round after losing to Leu Yi Yang of Singapore while Ahmad Syukran Mohd Shahir lost in qualifying round. For the women’s individual foil, Malaysian fencers Natasha Ezzra Abu Bakar lost 12-15 to Maxine Isabel Esteban of Philippines in the quarter-finals while Fong Tyanne was eliminated in the qualifying round. -- BERNAMA