Maxine makes it two Asian Cadet Circuit foil titles in a row

SINGAPORE – National fencer Maxine Wong won her second straight Asian Cadet Circuit (ACC) foil title on Sunday (July 30) as Singapore hosted its leg of the fledgling region-wide circuit at the OCBC Arena over the weekend.

More than 80 fencers from 14 countries took part in the two-day competition, with 16-year-old Maxine living up to her favourite tag with a handy 15-11 win over Hong Kong’s Fan Linna in the girls’ final. Singapore’s Rachel Lim and Denyse Chan were joint-third from the field of 32 fencers.

The boys’ competition on Saturday attracted 54 entries with the title going to Malaysia’s Hans Yoong who defeated Singaporean Kieren Lock 15-5 in the final, with Singaporean Paolo Cheung and Lawrence Tan of the Philippines sharing third.

The ACC is a new initiative by the Fencing Confederation of Asia aimed at providing more competitions for up-and-coming Asian fencers at the cadet (Under-17) level.

It emulates the highly successful European Cadet Circuit which has over the years become the hotbed for developing European talents who go on to dominate world fencing at the Junior (Under-20) and Senior (Open) categories.

With three tournaments for each of the three weapons, the ACC aims to enhance the development of Asian cadet fencers and hasten the overall competitiveness of fencers in this region.

A Junior (Under-20) bronze medallist at the US Summer Nationals in Utah earlier this month, Maxine followed that up by winning the opening leg of the ACC in the Philippines.

Said her mother, Chan Bee Bee: “Maxine has been fencing the European Cadet Circuit over the last three seasons, and those events attract well over 200 fencers each time. 

“But we hear how they were also small tournaments when they first started, so we’re hopeful that the ACC will grow in time. 

“For now, it’s good that Maxine is able to get ranking points for the next Asian Junior and Cadet Championships and gain more competition exposure.”

August will see the ACC heading to Japan for a sabre competition, while Hong Kong is slated to host foil and epee competitions.