Fencer leans on heart, flair to capture gold

Heart and heartbreak.

Team Philippines recovered from a heartbreaking loss in the women’s individual sabre finals by playing with a lot of heart later in the day in women’s individual epee finals to claim its first gold medal in the sport in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games yesterday at the San Juan Gymnasium.

Melly Joyce Angeles pulled the rug from under reigning SEA Games champion Siritida Choochokkul of Thailand, 15-7, in the semifinals then went on to beat Nhu Hoa Nguyen Thi, 15-13, in the tightly-contested match between the two fancied countries. The two last met at the Vietnam Sea Games, playing in the team epee division.

"I lost to her in the team event in our previous meeting," Angeles said. "I didn’t have the chance to study her moves until our bout."

Angeles, who was seeded third going into the quarterfinals, hurdled Indonesia’s Isnawaty Sir Idar, bronze medalist in the last SEA Games, in the quarters, and Choochokkul, gold medalist in the last SEA Games, in the semis.

Choochokkul earlier knocked out Filipina Harlene Orendain in their quarterfinal match, 13-12. Orendain had the chance to win, scoring crucial points in the dying seconds of their match but Choochokkul held on to victory. 

Nhu Hoa, who won silver in the same event in the Vietnam Games, was seeded fifth going into the quarterfinals. Winning a lopsided battle against Indonesia’s Rini Ismalasari, 15-4, in the quarterfinals, she went on to face teammate Sen Ha Thi, who was the tournament’s top seed. The Vietnamese squared off in a long bout, with Nguyen Thi winning and advancing to the finals, 14-13.

 "I had to think out of the box to fight her (Nguyen Thi)," Angeles said, describing the way she fought the Vietnamese contender. "I relied on my unorthodox fighting style and my instinct as well."

The RP fencing team, on the other hand, had a chance to win another gold in the saber division after a near-flawless performance of Joanna Franquelli in the day. But Vietnam’s Le Dung Nguyen Thi dealt the Filipina’s only loss, 15-13, in the tournament.

"The last two points were very crucial and she got it," Franquelli said.

It was a see-saw battle until Le Dung charged on to run away with the gold medal in the sabre division.