S’pore fencer, 16, makes history by winning world cadet title

SINGAPORE — Talented teen fencer Lau Ywen has created history by becoming the first Singaporean to win a gold medal at the Cadet & Junior World Fencing Championships in Bourges, France, on Sunday (April 3).

The 16-year-old United World College student recorded the feat on Sunday morning (Singapore time) when she defeated German junior champion Larissa Eifler 15-14 in the individual sabre cadet (Under-17) final. Singapore’s best result at the competition before this triumph was a fifth-place finish by Jet Ng in the men’s individual foil cadet last year.

“I knew I could do this. We trained really hard for this,” said Ywen, when asked on Sunday if she was surprised by her win.

“I’m glad I achieved the historic win for Singapore, and the result here showed me that I can hold my own against the world’s top fencers in my age group.”

Ywen’s remarkable achievement has earned praise from Culture, Community and Youth Minister Grace Fu, who said the teen “did Singapore proud”.

“Congratulations to our Team Singapore fencer Lau Ywen for winning the World Fencing Championships (Cadet),” said Ms Fu in a Facebook post. “She may only be 16, but Ywen did Singapore proud ... to become our first world champion in fencing. Kudos to Ywen and Fencing Singapore for flying our Singapore flag high.”

The victory on such a prestigious stage is the latest milestone in Ywen’s remarkable rise in the sport since she joined the national team in 2012 as a 12-year-old.

Prior to her world title, some of her achievements on the international stage included two bronze medals (individual and team sabre) when she made her SEA Games debut last year, and a 12th-placed finish (out of 16) in the individual sabre at her Asian Games debut in 2014.

In February, she won a silver medal at the 2016 Asian Fencing Cadet Championships.

Ywen’s path to the world crown in Bourges, where 1,310 fencers from 105 countries took part in the competition, was anything but easy.

En route to the final, she had to face Asian cadet champion Risa Takashima of Japan in the quarter-finals, and European cadet champion Lisa Pusztai of Hungary in the semis. She beat her opponents 15-14 and 15-13 respectively, before taking on Larissa in the final.

“Larissa is a really good fencer, and she has done really well in international competitions,” said Ywen, whose elder sister Ysien, 18, is also a national fencer. “Prior to the final, I have never competed against her, but I’ve watched videos of her, studied how she fences and was able to apply my strategy.

“When the score was 14-14, the judge went back to the video replay three, four times (in deciding the awarding of the winning point) and it was so nerve-wracking.”

Ywen said that her dream is to “represent Singapore at the Olympics, and earn a medal”, and she has her eyes firmly set on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Her coach David Chan said Ywen has the potential to go “as far as she aspires to”.

“When we first saw her at about 9 or 10, she was a foil fencer and we already knew she has huge potential,” said the former national fencer. “When she was 11, I gave her her first sabre weapon and she decided to switch to it.

“It suits her perfectly as she is an aggressive fencer. I’m glad she is able to get the world title at the most prestigious cadet competition at such a young age.

“It’s the biggest event in her age group in the international fencing calendar. Once you win it, you’ll get international attention and will be approached by schools worldwide offering scholarships.

“Ywen has a lot of drive and focus. This success will push her on to achieve bigger things.”

It may come soon.  The young Singaporean is on track to be a double world champion when she competes in the individual sabre junior (Under-20) event on Wednesday.