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St Margaret’s score surprise win

SINGAPORE — When St Margaret’s Secondary School (SMSS) fencer Pow Shu Shan qualified for the “B” Division Girls’ Individual Foil quarter-finals, head coach Dennis Leong started furiously tabulating the unofficial scores, knowing the school had a chance to clinch the overall “B” Division title in the National Inter-School Fencing Championships.

(From left) St Margaret’s Caryl Lei, Charmain Ooi, Yvette Lim and Anastasia Karpova, with coach Dennis Leong. Photo: Dennis Leong

(From left) St Margaret’s Caryl Lei, Charmain Ooi, Yvette Lim and Anastasia Karpova, with coach Dennis Leong. Photo: Dennis Leong

SINGAPORE — When St Margaret’s Secondary School (SMSS) fencer Pow Shu Shan qualified for the “B” Division Girls’ Individual Foil quarter-finals, head coach Dennis Leong started furiously tabulating the unofficial scores, knowing the school had a chance to clinch the overall “B” Division title in the National Inter-School Fencing Championships.

Defeating Stephanie Hong of CHIJ St Theresa’s Convent 15-12 on Wednesday, 14-year-old Shu Shan went on to clinch the joint-bronze after falling to Rachel Lam of CHIJ Toa Payoh 15-11 in the semi-final. But that was enough to send the title SMSS’ way for the first time in the competition’s three-year history with a total of 112 points.

Anchoring the effort was an individual epee gold from Anastasia Karpova, who defeated Donna Lim of Raffles Girls’ School (RGS) 15-11.

Chung Cheng High (Yishun) and Pasir Ris Crest finished joint-second on 102 points, while RGS finished fourth with 92.

Billed as huge underdogs prior to the start of the competition, SMSS’ feat was all the more remarkable considering they were the only school among the top four with no national fencers in their midst.

Their emotions were best summed up by captain Caryl Lei, who said: “I was completely shocked that we won. I even thought that my team-mates were lying to me.

“Personally, I wasn’t expecting us to do so well — perhaps third was my best hope as we had finished fourth in the previous two years.”

As it turned out, the unique training regime their coach implemented when he took charge four months ago equipped the girls with the extra edge when it mattered.

“We worked on their mentality in terms of confidence and self-esteem. Character is very important and it can help achieve results. When they get this spirit, things will happen,” Leong said.

“Our training camp in March was unique — we worked on their hearts, looked at how to solve individual problems and started managing them better,” the 31-year-old added.

The girls’ desire and commitment to the cause also played integral roles in their success this week.

“What was crucial was our discipline to stick to a fixed training schedule. There must be desire and you realistically look at what you can achieve from there,” said Anastasia.

Fencing Singapore President Nicholas Fang believed that this was yet another indication of how the sport has developed a burgeoning community in Singapore.

“It’s wonderful and heartening to see these schools which are not traditionally known for fencing excelling,” said Fang. “SMSS are relatively new to the fencing scene and it feels as if the fraternity is growing.”

The National Inter-School Fencing Championships, which wrapped up yesterday, saw Hwa Chong Institution underlining their dominance when they swept the “A”, “B” and “C” Division Boys’ team titles.

Raffles Institution won the Girls’ “A” Division title, while the “C” Division title went to the Singapore Sports School.

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