Team RP pins hopes on Mendoza in sabre

Wally Mendoza hopes to accomplish what his teammates failed to do as Team Philippines tries to come up with a respectable showing in the last of the individual events — sabre — at resumption of the Sharp Asian Championships today at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

With his compatriots falling one after the other in the epee and foil events, the 24-year-old Mendoza vows to go all out for a medal in this eight-day event sponsored by Sharp and organized by the Philippine Amateur Fencing Association (PAFA).

Mendoza, a two-time gold medallist in the Southeast Asian Games, was actually a point away from booking a finals seat in the men’s sabre of the Asia-Ocenia Olympic qualifier last Tuesday. But he wavered and lost to Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Frolov in a heartbreaking 14-15 setback that dashed his Olympic hopes.

He will spearhead a men’s squad that includes Edmund Velez, Edward Daliva and Galo Nokom while the women’s side is composed of Joanna Franquelli, Wendy Mendoza, Jinky Naval and Veena Nuestro at the close of the individual events.

Meanwhile, Melly Joyce Angeles came through with the best effort in the foil event by barging into the round-of-16, thanks to a 15-9 triumph over Natalya Muhamedgareeva of Kyrghyztan in the round-of-32 yesterday.

But Angeles, 24, failed to sustain her momentum and got smashed by Japanese Chieko Sugawara, ranked 42nd in the world who topped the qualifier a few days back to book a seat in the Olympics via a 1-15 defeat.

"Parang lalaki kung maglaro," said Angeles, a psychology major at the University of the Philippines who works as a pre-school teacher."

"But I’m happy with my performance maski walang allowance akong nakuha sa PSC (Philippine Sports Commission)," she added. Angeles is just one of the 10 RP entries who were dropped from the list of athletes receiving their monthly income from the sports agency.

Also getting the boot were all four of the men’s team — Emerson Segui, Ramil and Ruperto Endriano Jr. and Rolando Canlas Jr. — and lady fencers Roberta Gonzales and Michelle Mancenido.

Segui, the country’s top fencer in foil, blew a 9-5 lead and lost to Kee Cheon Wong of Korea, 11-15, while Ramil dropped a 10-15 setback to Sung Song Wook also of Korea.

Canlas, on the other hand, was overpowered by Huang Liangzi of the fancied Chinese squad, 7-15, while Ruperto lost to Iskander Yeshirov of Uzbekistan, 12-15.

Gonzales, 32, faced another Chinese, this time against Liu Yuan, with the results the same as her countrymen, 66-15, while Mancenido was defeated by Hitomi Fujiwara of Japan, 7-15.