Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) – Penn State University standout Samantha Catantan settled for a bronze medal in the Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifiers on Sunday, as she and two other Filipino fencers fell short of clinching a Tokyo Olympics berth.
The winners of the fencing event in the Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifiers held at Tashkent, Uzbekistan earn their slots in the Games set from July 23 to Aug. 8 this year.
Catantan, a former UAAP juniors’ most valuable player from the University of the East, absorbed a 10-15 loss against tournament top seed Yana Alborova of Uzbekistan in the semifinal round of the women’s foil event.
The 19-year-old Filipina fencer shared the bronze medal with Lebanon’s Mona Shaito, who lost to Singapore’s Amita Berthier in the semifinals. Berthier, who beat Catantan in the pool round, notched the lone Olympic slot in the women’s foil event after a close 15-14 win over Alborova in the finals.
In pool play, Catantan defeated four out of her five opponents to gain a bye in the round of 16. She then edged Chinese Taipei’s Hsin Cheng, 10-6, in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, CJ Concepcion ranked 10th in the men’s sabre event after being ousted by Australia’s Alexandre Douglas in the round of 16 with a score of 9-15.
Concepcion, silver medalist in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, won only twice out of his seven games in pool play. His record was enough to book him the last spot in the playoff rounds.
Hometown bet Sherzod Mamutov topped the event and secured his ticket to Tokyo.
On the other hand, Noelito Jose Jr. suffered a close 14-15 upset against Iraq’s Mohsin Abbas in the men’s epee round of 16. The Filipino was seeded sixth while the Iraqi was the 11th seed.
Jose hurdled three of his five matches in pool play as he defeated bets from Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.
On Monday, three more Filipino fencers will start their own bids to book a spot in the Tokyo Olympics. 2019 SEA Games gold medalist Jylyn Nicanor will represent the country in the women’s sabre, while Hanniel Abella will compete in the women’s epee. Nathaniel Perez will also seek an Olympic berth in the men’s foil event.
