PEREZ, ABELLA EYE OLYMPIC BERTHS

FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates: It is the turn of Filipino fencers Nathaniel Perez and Hanniel Abella to aim for berths in the Paris Olympics as the two take the stage in the Asian & Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament (OQT) Sunday, April 28 at the Zayed Sports Complex here.

Abella will see action in the women's epee division at 9 a.m., while Perez will play in the men's foil category at 11 a.m. Sam Catantan and Noelito Jose started their quests for Olympic berths and are playing at press time.

A silver medal winner in the 2021 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam, Perez looks to improve on his performance in this same competition in 2021 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan – the OQT then for the Tokyo Olympics.

In preparation for this competition, Perez joined the World Grand Prix in Washington D.C. and had a training camp stint at the Bluegrass Fencers' Club in Lexington, Kentucky.

"Very hopeful that we not only improve (from the last OQT) but attain our goal," Perez said, referring to the ultimate goal of earning a spot in the Paris Olympics in France this year.

Waltwer Torres – now a Commissioner at the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) – was the last Filipino fencer to play in the Summer Games following his participation in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

As for Abella, a member of the gold medal winning women's epee team and silver medalist in individual during the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, she likewise wants to accomplish the same after a first round exit in the Direct Elimination of the OQT in Uzbekistan.

To get her ready for the event, Abella trained for a month in South Korea with former Asian Games champion Park Sang-Sun, the same mentor who helped the epee team of the Philippines win that gold medal in the biennial meet the country hosted five years ago.

The country's OQT campaign here started Saturday with Catantan in women's foil and Jose in men's epee.

Jose, a silver medal winner in the Cambodia SEA Games, posted a 2-3 win in Pool 3 and was ranked No. 14 in the Table of 16. He is playing at presstime No. 3 Jian Tong Sito of Singapore.

SEA Games gold medal winner in Vietnam in 2021, Catantan, on the other hand, finished with a 4-2 record in Pool 2 to get the No. 4 rank and is set to play No. 5 Israa Al Siyabi of Oman in the Round-of-16 of the DE.

Only the winner per category and weapon will earn spots in the Paris Olympics.

2024-04-27T15:41:15Z dg43tfdfdgfd