Fencer Maxine Esteban made history Sunday when she won the bronze in the women’s individual foil event of the Junior World Cup held in Guatemala.
The 17-year-old Ateneo freshman became the first Filipino to win a medal in the world stage, a feat that improved her ranking to 21st in the world and No. 5 in Asia.
“I’m very happy with my results in the competition,” said Esteban who settled for the bronze after getting beaten in the semifinals by world No. 3 Amitha Berthier of Singapore, 15-4.
Berthier went on to win the gold medal.
Before the start of the competition, Esteban said she noticed that the Philippine flag was not displayed in the site.
“But when I topped the preliminaries during the first day, the Philippine flag was already displayed,” she said.
Esteban said she hopes to do well in the next three competitions.
“I want to show to show to the world that Filipinos are not to be taken lightly,” she said.
Esteban won all five matches in the preliminaries to earn the top seeding and an automatic quarterfinal berth.
She defeated Kenia Saucedo of Guatemala, 5-0; Michela Somocurcio of Peru, 5-1; Gayatri Bhanot of the United States, 5-3; Sofia McGoff of Puerto Rico, 5-1; and Jubanel Taylor Larrauri of Costa Rica.
Esteban advanced into the semifinals by ousting Carolina Stutchbury of England, 15-8.
“I was unlucky to face Amitha early because she lost one match so she became fourth after the poules. If I was against the other girls, I could have been silver at least,” Esteban recalled.
“But I’m really thankful pa rin because it’s still a World Cup,” she added.
Esteban said she still has a lot to improve on.
“I must train more because more will be expected of me and it means that I should improve more to overcome the other fencing giants,” she said.
Lance Tan, the other Filipino entry in the men’s foil, finished sixth.
