MANILA — Philippine fencers ruled two team events in the junior division of the 2026 Southeast Asian Fencing Federation (SEAFF) Cadet and Junior Championship, capturing the women’s foil and men’s saber gold medals on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The twin triumphs at Arena TSH OCM highlighted another strong outing for Team Philippines, which raised its junior division haul to two gold, two silver and four bronze medals.
Victoria Ebdane, Willa Galvez and Jodie Tan delivered the first championship for the Philippines after Team A defeated Vietnam, 44-37, in the women’s foil team final.
Galvez sparked the Filipinas’ decisive breakaway in the fourth bout, overwhelming Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Anh Thu, 10-1, to stretch a slim 9-6 Philippine advantage into a commanding 19-7 lead.
The 15-year-old Galvez finished with a team-high 21 points, while Ebdane contributed 13 and Tan added 10 as the Filipinas protected their advantage to secure the championship.
Team A advanced to the gold-medal bout only after surviving an all-Filipino semifinal against Team B composed of Yuna Canlas, Hadia del Castillo and Victoria Malvar, 29-28.
The Philippines completed its golden double in the men’s saber team competition as national team member Khiane Felipe joined Vito Coching, Drake Chung and Matthew General in beating Thailand, 45-40, in the championship match.
Estelliah Gilliana, Hailey Sophia Peters, Arianna Tiu and Nadelle Turiano added a silver medal for the Philippines in the women’s saber team competition.
Oscar del Castillo, who earlier won silver in the men’s individual epee, secured another medal after teaming up with Joaquin De Silos, Jacob Mayo and Boo Geronimo for bronze in the men’s epee team event.
Also taking bronze were the Philippine Team B of Canlas, del Castillo and Malvar in women’s foil; Rhiana Cruz, Eleina Junia, Faith Olemos and Papina Torre in women’s epee; and Inigo Divinagracia, Lucas Palafox, Jethro Chan and Elijah Timbol in men’s foil.
Galvez earlier secured bronze in the individual women’s foil event on Monday.
She edged Singapore’s Sita Naidu Maaravis, 15-14, in the quarterfinals before bowing to eventual champion and Malaysian national team fencer Suraya Rizzal, 15-8, in the semifinals./PN
