STARTING OFF their quest for coveted success, the Ateneo Fencing Team (AFeT) scraped together one silver and one bronze medal apiece in the first day of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Fencing Tournament. The event took place yesterday at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Quadricentennial Pavilion in the City of Manila.
Among the three categories that played today in the collegiate division, the Men’s Sabre duo provided the early silverware for the Blue Eagles with sensational rookie Toby Cabrera’s silver and Andre Agatep’s bronze.
Men’s Sabre Individual
The duo of Cabrera and Agatep kicked off the Pools with an ample record to advance in the Direct Elimination (DE) stages by tallying two wins and two losses. Both sabrists were separated in the seeding through Indicator (IND) points, as Agatep secured the fifth seed with a +1 IND while Cabrera placed at seventh with a -1 IND.
With an opportunity to snatch two medals at the DE stage, both athletes fought through the wire against formidable opponents to advance to the semi-finals round. Agatep escaped UST’s Kurt Maruquez late surge, 15-14, after building a comfortable lead.
Agatep claimed that he built back his composure match-by-match since the pooling to regain his rhythm at the right time. “I think it was the nervousness and a lot of things on my mind, but I really tried to keep my focus on,” the second-year sabrist shared.
Meanwhile for Cabrera, the freshman sought revenge against University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD)’s Xavier Reyes after being bested earlier in the pooling stage. After a sour start that saw Cabrera trailing by 2-8 before the half, the debutant pulled off an impeccable comeback against his fellow rookie to finish the bout, 15-14.
Securing at least two bronzes in the category, Cabrera and Agatep aimed to reunite at the Finals to bag the highest medals. Cabrera dispatched John Paul Dayro of the Fighting Maroons, 15-6, to advance at the last stage. However, Agatep failed to usurp the defending champion, Eunice Villanueva, 11-15, to finish bronze for consecutive years in the category.
After climbing all the way up to the grand stage, Cabrera was determined to pull off the hefty task of upsetting Villanueva and avenging his teammate’s loss. The UAAP Juniors gold-medalist gave everything he could, but eventually yielded against the senior, 4-15, to finish his debut season with a silver medal.
Cabrera felt that his & Agatep’s performances were good for setting the team’s momentum in their upcoming events. Moreover, the finalist remains determined to finish stronger by promising to capture the gold finish next time.
Women’s Foil Individual
Suited up for the Blue Eagles in the Women’s Foil Individual category were Thea Sebastian and Yelena Martinez. Both athletes tallied a 2-2 record that placed them at fifth and sixth seeds respectively, with the former tallying a -1 IND while the latter recording a -3 IND.
Heading into the DE, both foil fencers had the opportunity to advance on to the next stage but faced eventual finalists of the category. Martinez succumbed to eventual gold medalist, UPD’s Nana Carbonell, 4-15. Meanwhile, Sebastian displayed a valiant stand in her rematch against University of the East’s Eytria Olarte before being overwhelmed, 1-15.
Men’s Épée Individual
In a surprising turn of events, AFeT Épée specialists Aidan Reyes and Mico Florendo both bowed out early in the tournament as they failed to win a single bout in the preliminary pooling rounds.
In Pool 2 of the Épée preliminaries, Reyes suffered a heartbreaking loss against eventual gold medalist Edan Ensamtan of De La Salle University, 4-5. This one-point defeat proved to be crucial as only a single win would have earned the senior fencer a spot in the quarterfinals.
With the conclusion of the first day of the UAAP Fencing Tournament, the Ateneo Men’s Fencing Team currently sits at third in the medal tally with one silver and one bronze, trailing UST (one gold, one silver) and DLSU (one gold). On the other hand, the Women’s Team—which is still hunting for its first medal of the season—is in fourth place, behind UPD (one gold, one bronze), UE (one silver), and UST (one bronze).
The UAAP Season 85 Fencing Tournament will resume today, March 15, at the same venue. The AFeT will compete in the Women’s Epee at 9:00 AM and in the Women’s Sabre and Men’s Foil events at 1:00 PM.
