Fencing: Ruth Ng wins Foil gold; Singapore pick up 5 of 12 medals on offer

Contributed by Ryan Quek

Singapore Institute of Management, Thursday, August 4, 2011 — Singapore fencers clinched five out of 12 medals on offer on the first day of the Fencing Singapore International 2011.

Singaporean Ruth Ng displayed composed fencing throughout the day proceedings to emerge victorious in the Women’s Foil individual event after beating Franziska Schmitz from Germany 15-11 in the final. National team mates Wang Wenying and Cheryl Wong took the bronzes.

Said Ruth: “This win feels really good and will give myself and my team mates a big confidence boost in the months ahead. We are stepping up our preparations in the lead up to the SEA Games in November and the win could not have come at a better time for our team.”

In the Men’s Epee individual event, Singapore’s SEA Games bound fencers Lim Weiwen and Samson Lee stormed through the draw and were a mere point away from setting up an all-Singaporean men’s epee final for the first time in the history of the competition.

25-year-old Samson Lee stunned Han Fei from China 15-13 in the semi-finals to make his first ever individual final, while teammate Lim Weiwen lost 14-15 to eventual champion Dong Guotao from China in the other semi-final.

Samson said after his loss in the final: “Frankly speaking, I did not expect to make the final from this strong pool of fencers but personally I was just very happy with the way I performed today. I feel the hard work I have put in for the last few years is starting to slowly pay off.”

Fencing Singapore’s committee member Anthony Tsang, who witnessed both finals today, enthused about our fencers’ performances today.

“The results today clearly shows the good work put in by the athletes and coaches and hopefully put us in good stead as we strive for medal winning performances in in upcoming SEA Games in November.”

In the last individual event of the day, China fencers showed their strong depth in the Men’s Sabre events by taking all medals on offer, with Malaysian representative, Nurul Ismail also taking the joint bronze medal.