The 2023 edition of the Asian Fencing Championships was held in Wuxi, China from 17 to 22 June at the Taihu International Expo Center.[1] Blade Club Athletes Kiria Tikanah and Elle Koh (Women’s Epee), Maxine Wong (Women’s Foil), and Jean Koh (Women’s Sabre) represented Singapore in the event.
In the Women’s Epee event, Elle started the day with what seemed like a missed opportunity – she lost her opening bout despite leading 4-2. To her credit, she did not let the match get to her head and rallied to win every bout after in clinical fashion. Along the way, she beat World #1 Vivian Kong (HKG) 5-3, and also a key fencer in the CHN senior team, Tang, whom she had never before beaten, 5-4. She also beat World Cadet bronze medalist Hung (TPE) in a rematch (she had lost to her at the Asian Junior 2023).
Interestingly, this is the 2nd year in a row Elle has beaten the World #1 in the poules at the AFC, having done so the year prior against then-world number 1, Choi (KOR).
After T64 bye, for T32 Elle was to fence against the Asian Qualifier 2nd place fencer from KAZ (the fencer whom Kiria beat to qualify for Tokyo). She beat her 15-5 to advance into the T16 to fence Kong (HKG); again, like in AFC 2022, despite a strong performance in the poule, the rematch in the DE proved to be a completely different story. Kong was much more wary of Elle’s fencing style and played a much more conservative game at the start, forcing Elle to have to attack more and using her considerable reach advantage decisively. Elle was unable to effectively break through and eventually lost 15-5.
Kiria comfortably fenced everyone in her poule of 6 fencers, beating all except for ex-World #1 Choi (KOR). She defeated Asian Junior Bronze medalist Tambovtseva comfortably, as well as Saito (JPN) who ended up getting into T16.
Unfortunately, because she was in a smaller poule, she did not place as high as other fencers who had a poule of 7. The DE path proved to be not ideal, as the T32 match (after T64 bye) pit her against the bronze medalist from AFC 2022, Chan (HKG). Despite trailing 13-9 into the dying moments of the match, Kiria dug in deep and clawed it back to 14-14 and finally winning the priority point in a thrilling match. In T16, she had to fence Olympic Gold medalist, Sun (CHN). The experience level of the Olympic champion proved too much for Kiria, who lost 6-15. Kiria would later get some measure of revenge later during the team event though (see below)!
In the Women’s Epee Team event, Singapore’s draw was unfortunate as we had to fence a strong team from KAZ. After a rollercoaster of a match, Elle and Kiria were able to help the team scrape a win against very fiesty opponents. With CHN as the next opponent, and Elle nursing an injury, National Partner Coach-in-charge Henry decided to field the reserve Zi Cheng in her place for most of her bouts. Kiria was the one to start against Sun (CHN) in a small rematch of their Elimination bout. This time, Kiria surprised everyone by dominating the Olympic Gold medalist, beating her a resounding 5-0! But despite our initial 5-0 lead, the Chinese team would storm back to take the match 45-28, leaving Singapore in the Top 8. After the placement matches with THA and IND, Singapore eventually closed out in 6th position.
Maxine unfortunately suffered a serious training injury to her hamstring just prior to the AFC, impeding her performance for the Championships. Despite this, she valiantly fought on and secured her place in the Direct Elimination. She was even able to beat Ha (VIE) with a resounding 14-6, before withdrawing medically against teammate Amita to avoid aggravating her injury.
More results can be seen here.