CATANTAN NAILS PARIS OLYMPICS SPOT

FUJAIRAH, UAE: The long 32-year drought of having a Filipino fencer in the Olympics is over.

Thanks to Samantha Catantan.

The 22-year-old fencer punched her ticket to the Paris Olympics with a dramatic 1514 win over Sofiya Aktayeva of Kazakhstan as she ruled the women's foil category in the Paris Olympics via the Asian & Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament on Saturday, April 27 here at the Zayed Sports Complex.

Catantan was down 12-9 when she was penalized with a red card by the lead referee for not going to her on guard line immediately.

However, she scored three straight points that tied the score at 13-all. At that point, Catantan asked for a medical timeout as she felt pain on her left knee, which was surgically repaired as she torn the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) last May 2023 during the semifinals of the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.

When play resumed, she quickly scored and made it 14-13. Though the Kazakh tied the score again, Catantan was patient on her movement before scoring the final point.

Catantan crumbled to the ground in tears as she was joined on the piste by her coach Rolando "Amat" Canlas Jr. while the small crowd of Filipinos, including former Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman and Manila District 3 congressman Harry Angping, teammates Hanniel Abella, Nathaniel Perez and Noelito Jose, and Xavier Virata of ACES celebrated the victory.

"This is for our country... this is for the Filipinos," said Catantan.

She is the 12th Filipino who booked a trip to this year's Summer Games as she joined pole vaulter EJ Obiena, boxers Nesthy Petecio, Aira Villegas, Eumir Marcial, gymnasts Carlos Yulo, Aleah Finnegan and Levi Jung-Ruivivar, weightlifters Vanessa Sarno, Elreen Ando and John Ceniza and rower Joanie Delgaco.

Catantan, who had a 4-2 record in the pools, stunned top ranked player Sena Hong of South Korea with a convincing 15-3 win in the semifinals, and Israa Al Siyabi of Oman 15-4 in the quarterfinal round.

Catantan is the first Filipino fencer to make the Summer Games, or since Walter Torres played in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

2024-04-27T15:41:11Z dg43tfdfdgfd