SEA Games: Teen star Lau Ywen wins Singapore's second fencing gold

KUALA LUMPUR — World cadet champion Lau Ywen delivered Singapore’s second fencing gold at the 29th SEA Games on Wednesday afternoon (Aug 23) after winning the women’s individual sabre final.

The 17-year-old defeated Thai top seed Pornsawan Ngernrungruangroj 15-12 at the Malaysian International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) to win her second Games medal, having won a bronze on her debut in 2015.

Ywen’s achievement was all the more remarkable as she had suffered a stress fracture in her back in February and could only return to training in July.

The United World College of South-east Asia student, the second-youngest of the 12 competitors, won all five of her poule matches and then beat Philippines’ Jlyn Nicanor 15-6 and Vietnam’s Bui Thi Thu Ha 15-11 in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.

In the final, Ywen kept her cool to defeat Pornsawan, the 20-year-old world No. 118, for a second time having beaten her in the poule stages.

It is the latest feather in the cap for Ywen, who was crowned Sportsgirl of the Year earlier this month for her historic triumph at the World Junior and Cadet Championships last April, which was the Republic’s first ever fencing title at any level.

Games debutant Amita Berthier, 16, won Singapore’s first fencing gold on Monday in the women’s individual foil and both her and Ywen are regarded as the country’s top prospects in the sport.

The Republic’s only two previous SEA Games golds in the women’s individual events came from Choy Fong Leng in the epee in 1989 and Wang Wenying in the foil in 2015.

Ywen’s victory rounded off the last day of the fencing competition in Kuala Lumpur and took Singapore’s final medal haul to two golds and three bronzes.