By WAYLON GALVEZ
Samantha Catantan fell short in her quest once again, settling for a silver medal after losing to Canadian Eleanor Harvey, 15-5, in the Division 1 category of the North American Cup Sunday in Richmond, Virginia.
The freshman from Penn State University struggled in the gold medal bout due to cramps.
As the sixth seeded fencer in the knockout round, Catantan earned a bye in the round of 128, then went to beat American Allison Lee 15-7 in the round of 64, a close 15-13 win against Crystal Qian of the US in the round of 32, and Renata Chusid of the US 15-5 in round of 16.
Catantan moved to the semifinal round with a thrilling 15-14 victory against Israel’s Nicole Pustilnik in quarterfinal, before beating American Sarah Taffel in Final Four 15-12 in women’s foil.
The tournament was the first for the 19-year-old Catantan since she earned a bronze medal at Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last April. (Waylon Galvez)
Despite the setback, Catantan said it was still a good showing for her considering this event is part of her preparation for the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.
“It was still a good performance. I’m improving in every tournament that I join,” Catantan said as she also won a bronze medal in her debut campaign in the US NCAA Fencing Championship last March.
Aside from Catantan, US-based Filipino fencers Daena Talavera and Annika Beatrice Santos also competed in the Division 1 category, finishing 58th and 116th out of 144 participants.
The two will see action in the junior’s division Monday.
Lance Tan, the sophomore from Sacred Heart University, finished 20th in the Division 1 category of men’s foil.
