CATANTAN OPENS OLYMPIC CAMPAIGN VS PISTOIA OF BRAZIL

(UPDATE) FILIPINO fencer Samantha Kyle Catantan will face Mariana Pistoia of Brazil in the table of 64 direct elimination (DE) when the clashing of the swords begin in the 2024 Paris Olympics right at the heart of the city at Grand Palais in France.

Catantan, a first time Olympian who earned her spot in the Summer Games via the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT), emerged as No. 33 in the rankings after the draw on Thursday (Manila time) while Pistoia ended up 32nd out of 34 fencers.

Martyna Jelinska of Poland (31), meanwhile, will take on Youssra Zakarani of Morocco (34).

The winners of both matches will advance in the round of 32 of the DE.

The winner of the Catantan-Pistoia match will play No. 1 Arianna Errigo of Italy, while the winner of the Jelinska-Zakarani duel will take on No. 2 and defending champion Lee Kiefer of the United States.

Kiefer, whose mother Teresa is from Tagum City, Davao del Norte, won the gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by dethroning Russian champion Inna Deriglazova in the finals 15-13.

Catantan ended a long 32-year drought of having a fencer representing the Philippines in the Olympics. She is the first Filipino fencer to compete in the women's division in the Olympics.

Percy Alger was the first Filipino fencer in the games when he competed in the 1988 Seoul Games while Wawit Torres played in the Barcelona Games in 1992. No Filipino has ever won a fencing match in the Olympics.

Catantan, 22, spent almost three weeks of training camp in Venice, Italy and followed it up with a weeklong preparation in Metz, France with her longtime mentor Amat Canlas to get ready for the Paris Olympics.

She will be facing on the piste a 25-year-old Pistoia, whose profile for the 2024 Olympics states that she is a member of the Brazilian Army that is part of a high performance sports program.

As for former Philippine team member Maxine Esteban, now a naturalized fencer for Ivory Coast, she is at No. 20 in the draw and will clash against one of the hometown bets in No. 13 Pauline Ranvier.

The winner of that bout will face No. 4 Martina Favaretto of Italy in the round of 16.

2024-07-26T15:38:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd