THE ATENEO Fencing Team took home a solitary medal on the first day of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 79 Fencing tournament on Wednesday, February 8 held at the Univeristy of Santo Tomas (UST) Gymnasium in Morayta.
The day started with the Individual Men’s Sabre competition, where the Blue and White was represented by Daniel Dickson Yu and RV Libarios. Yu finished the poulings with a 3-1 record, which gave him the third seed for the direct eliminations. On the other hand, Libarios ended up in the ninth seed after dropping all his matches and being unable to qualify for the playoff battles.
Yu then faced Matthew Ignacio from De La Salle University in the battle for a semifinals berth, which would bring a guaranteed medal, as there are two bronze medal finishers. It was not to be for him, however, as he dropped the game, 9-15.
Alongside the Men’s Sabre event was the Individual Women’s Foil, where Andie Ignacio and Patricia Paulo donned the Blue and White. Ignacio went a perfect 4 for 4 in her pouling matches, giving her the second seed by virtue of index points. Meanwhile, Paulo dropped all four of her games and ended up with the ninth seed.
Ignacio’s medal quest went better than Yu’s, as pummeled in a victory over May Montenegro of De La Salle Univeristy (15-11). However, she entered the semifinals matchup and lost to Justine Tinio from the University of the East (15-3). Her appearance in the semis also meant that she brought home a bronze medal for Ateneo, their first and only medal in the tourney as of end of day 1.
The Blue and White’s medal quest for the Men’s Individual Epee was on Michael Tan and Coby Villanueva’s shoulders. They both ended poulings with a 2-2 record and was ranked sixth and seventh, respectively. However, they both lost in their tableau of 8 matches, with Tan falling against Marlow Osayan (13-15) and Villanueva against Dennis Gascon (10-15).
The rest of the individual events will be played on Thursday, February 9, while the team events will be played on Friday and Saturday, February 10 and 11 at the UST Gymnasium in Morayta.
Andie Ignacio brings home the day’s only medal, landing in third place in the Women’s Individual Foil event.
https://storify.com/TheGUIDONSports/uaap-season-79-fencing-day-1
