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S’pore fencer Maxine Wong clinches bronze at US nationals

SINGAPORE – Up against opponents who were older and more experienced, national fencer Maxine Wong put in an impressive showing on the piste at the USA Fencing National Championships on Sunday (July 2), as the teenager won a surprise bronze medal in the junior (under-20) women’s individual foil.

SINGAPORE – Up against opponents who were older and more experienced, national fencer Maxine Wong put in an impressive showing on the piste at the USA Fencing National Championships on Sunday (July 2), as the teenager won a surprise bronze medal in the junior (under-20) women’s individual foil.

According to Fencing Singapore, this is the first time that a Singaporean has medaled at the American championships, which traditionally draws participation from some of the best fencers in the country. This year’s event in Salt Lake City, Utah, saw over 4,000 athletes, with the junior women’s foil event attracting a 185-strong field, which included 169 American athletes.

Handed a bye into the round of 128, Maxine – who was seeded 31st – stormed through the subsequent rounds, notably beating American second seed Natalie Minarik – who won a joint-bronze medallist (cadet, Under-17) at April’s world championships – in the round of 32.

The 16-year-old Singaporean eventually fell 15-8 to third seed Morgan Partridge – the 19-year-old American is ranked 47th in the world junior rankings – in the semi-final to settle for joint-bronze at the Calvin L Rampton Salt Palace Convention Centre.

“My results exceeded my expectations because I knew that this competition is very tough with many top US fencers and some other international fencers from Canada and South America,” Maxine told TODAY in a phone interview from Utah.

“This was also an Under-20 competition, so I just tried to do my best in every bout, listen to my coach and focus on what I had to do.”

A Secondary 4 student at Raffles Girls’ School, Maxine trains at Y-Sparks Fencing school under former national women’s foil coach Viacheslav Bobok. The teenager also finished third in the cadet foil at February’s Asian championships and 10th at world championships, and Bobok believes that his young charge has a bright future ahead of her.

“This is good... (it) means she has the capability to fence at a higher international level,” said the Russian.

“Maxine came to us when she was young, she just joined for fun, before slowly becoming more serious… she’s like a (blossoming) flower, slowly opening up her talent.

“She’s been fencing seriously for about six years now and we will take things one step at a time.”

SEA Games-bound athletes Amita Berthier and Nicole Wong finished 11th and 46th respectively in the same event. World championships bronze medalist (cadet foil) Amita and Wong – who are 16 and 19 respectively – were part of the women’s senior team that finished fifth at the Asian Championships in Hong Kong last month.

Yau Wee Sian, vice-president of Fencing Singapore said the recent achievements of the young fencers bodes well for the future of the sport, as he said in a statement: “Maxine and Coach Slava have demonstrated that we can hold our own against the best major fencing nations like the United States on their home ground.

“The result is a tremendous milestone for the athlete, her coach and Team Singapore. It is indeed encouraging to see our young women’s foil fencers making important progress and achieving major milestones in the recent two to three years on both the Asian and world stages.”

Maxine will compete in the Division 1 women’s open category on Monday (July 3), before ending the championships with the cadet competition – her age group – the next day.

Bobok added: “We are not planning any medals, just taking (down) information about the American style of fencing, and also trying to apply what we have worked on in Singapore, We are (more concerned with) looking at the quality of her fencing.”

Maxine will next compete in the South-east Asian Pacific Junior and Cadet Championships in Manila on Friday before heading to Poland for a training camp at the end of the month.

While she will not be part of the SEA Games in August, Maxine is eyeing a berth at 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.

“I think you have to be one of the top two Asians at next year’s world cadet fencing championships,” she said. “It (the YOG) is currently in our plans and it is definitely not easy, but I will be trying my best to qualify.”

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