UNIVERSITY of the East high school fencers delivered big time for the Philippines as Willa Galvez captured two gold medals and Yuna Canlas added one during the Thailand Fencing Festival Minime and Veterans Championships at the Diamond Hall in Zeer Rangsit, Thailand recently.
Galvez, who represented Canlas Fencing, dominated top seed Hei Shun Keung of Hong Kong 15-8 in the finals of the Under-14 girl’s foil.
An incoming Grade 8, Galvez then added the Under-14 girl’s epee with a nail-biting 15-13 win opposite Pawichaya Thongngaram of Thailand in the finals.
On the other hand, Canlas, an incoming freshman for the Red Warriors, captured the gold medal in the Under-12 girl’s epee on the final day of competition after beating Lena Xia of Singapore 10-5 in the finals. She also earned two bronze medals (U-14 and U-12 foil) in the three-day tournament.
The competition followed a tough training camp where Galvez and 20 other Filipino fencers participated last week in Taiwan where they were taught by some of the world’s top fencers such as former Olympian Ziemek Wojciechowski of Great Britain.
“I’m happy to win. It was perfect timing that after the Taiwan training camp we joined a tournament in Thailand. It gave me confidence and at the same time I was able to apply the lessons I’ve learned. I’m grateful and thankful to all the UE and CF coaches led by coach Amat Canlas,” Galvez said.
Galvez finished with a 4-1 record in the pooling of women’s foil following wins against Yu Wei Chen of Singapore (5-0), Yuvika Subodh Saikhedkar of India (5-1), Xu Shuoyan of China (5-0) and Yuga Fong of Hong Kong (5-2). The only blot in her pool record was a 5-3 defeat to Ella Wang of Australia.
After getting a bye in the Round-of-32 as the No. 2 seeded player in the DE – or Direct Elimination – she then proceeded to beat compatriot Lily Marguerite Juico in the Round-of-16 (15-6), Mia Pimkaew of Thailand in the quarterfinals (15-7) and Canlas in the semifinals (15-5).
In epee, Galvez won all five bouts in the pools, beating local bets Pariyakorn Ingkhabaramee (5-4), Chanaka Panthet (5-4), I-yarin Jachthubber (5-4), Kanyapas Sutheesunthorntham (5-4) and Chomnapas Kwannak (5-0). As the No. 4 fencer in DE, she edged Natthida Chuwong in the Last 16 (15-7), Rattanaporn Mekchay in the quarters (15-12) and top seed Jittawan Imrang in the semis (15-13).
The other bronze medal winners in the CF contingent were Elise Acuzar in U-12 girl’s sabre, Flame Go in U-10 girl’s epee, Grey Ang in U-8 boy’s sabre and Akirra Villacin in U-8 girl’s sabre.
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