Podium Finishes For Novices

2020 Novices Fencing Championship

Photos by Fencing Singapore

It was Nadine Fateha Zuraimy’s fighting spirit that carried her onto the second-highest rung of the podium at OCBC Arena on 19 January 2020. The Singapore Sports School Secondary 3 fencer’s remained resilient and triumphed through close shaves in the elimination rounds to make the Women’s Epee Final at the 2020 Novices Fencing Championships.

Seeded 6th after five wins in six bouts in the Pools, Nadine progressed into the elimination rounds and encountered her first challenge against Alicia Ng in the Round of 32. The match ended 13-12 in favour of Nadine who subsequently faced similarly tough battles in the Quarter-Finals (beat Esther Tan 15-13) and Semi-Finals (beat Wong Shi Xuan 15-14) before meeting No. 1 Seed Choong Zi Cheng. Nadine eventually settled for second place. The silver medal came as an early birthday present for Nadine who turned 15 years old four days later. Esther, a Secondary 1 student-athlete, finished a creditable 5th.

Secondary 3’s Calvin Prashanth Nathan, who shares the same birthdate as Nadine, and Secondary 1’s Neo Tze Yang also medalled in the tournament organised from 18 to 19 January 2020 for Singapore fencers with less than three years of fencing experience. Both won the bronze after losing to the eventual medallists in their respective events’ semi-finals – Calvin in the Men’s Sabre and Tze Yang in the Men’s Foil.

RESULTS

Women’s Epee

2nd – Nadine Fateha Zuraimy

Men’s Foil

3rd – Neo Tze Yang

Men’s Sabre

3rd – Calvin Prashanth Nathan