The Chinese, composed mainly of junior fencers, ruled both the men’s and women’s team saber events to hike its total winnings to 10 gold medals, two more than what they took home in last year’s edition of the same event held in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
China walloped Korea, 45-33, in the men’s division while its women’s squad slammed Japan, 45-37, to complete its awesome effort in this event sponsored by Sharp and organized by the Philippine Amateur Fencing Association (PAFA).
The Filipinos, for their part, absorbed a crushing 21-45 setback to the heavily-favored Koreans while the local lady fencers were beaten by the fancied Japanese, 28-45, both in the quarterfinal round as the host squad went out without a single medal.
Wally Mendoza, considered as the country’s top fencer, was a no-show yesterday that hastened RP’s downfall.
Celso Dayrit, who heads both the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Philsoc) and the Philippine Olympic Committee, said Mendoza did not show up due to personal reasons. He did not elaborate.
With Mendoza, a two-time SEAG gold medalist who is a point away from making the finals of the individual saber event of the Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifier last week, out of the fold, the Koreans opted to rest their anchor — usually given to the team’s best fencer — Kim Sun Ho.
And Korea was not a bit affected with Kim sitting it out as it smothered the RP side composed of Edward Daliva, Gian Carlo Nokom and Rolando Canlas, who was tapped out to fill in the void left by Mendoza.
"Nagulat din kami wala siya (Mendoza), sabi daw ng coach namin emergency daw, may personal na problema," Daliva, a 22-year-old sports management student at Far Eastern U, told The STAR.
"Malalakas talaga ang mga Koreano, hirap talaga kami sa kanila lalo na at wala si Wally," he added.
The Chinese thus went home winning 10 of the 12 gold medals at stake in this meet although their 10th gold medal would not have been possible if not for a come-from-behind victory in the semifinals against Kazakhstan.