The Touché Fencing Club’s fencing team recently travelled to Bandung, Indonesia to participate in the West Java International Fencing Championship 2023. The tournament saw the participation of approximately 500 fencers from Indonesia and the region including Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Touché fencers bagged eight medals on their way to winning the overall club trophy for the 2023 edition of the tournament. Touche’s fencers put up strong performances in all categories. Saif Nordin picked up three gold medals in the U14, U16 and U21 boy’s foil categories.
Fencers from Touché Fencing Club who had medal performances were:
1) Saif Nordin
- Gold – U14 Boy’s Foil
- Gold- U16 Boy’s Foil
- Gold – Junior Boy’s Foil
2) Lakshman Mohan
- Gold – U14 Boy’s Epee
- Bronze – U16 Boy’s Epee
3) Chong Ting Jing
- Silver – Junior Boy’s Foil
4) Ng Kye Tzer
- Bronze – U16 Boy’s Foil
5) Megat Zuhril
- Bronze – Senior Men’s Foil
In what was one of the more dramatic matches of the tournament, foil fencer Ng Kye Tzer pulled off a dramatic victory in the U17 category overcoming injury and cramps to secure a place in the semifinals, unfortunately, midway through the semifinal he was required to withdraw.
Coach C. W. Mok, Touché Fencing Club’s founder, president and director of coaching, commented, “This tournament is an important step in the development of many of our young fencers. A lot of attention is given to those who picked up medals but we can’t forget those younger fencers who are coming up through the ranks. It is tournaments like these that they learn what it takes to compete beyond Malaysia.”
“It’s also a wonderful opportunity to build friendships with other fencers across the region. At the same time when we travel on trips like this, we endeavour to have our fencers learn something about the local culture or history. On this trip, they were able to visit Kawah Putih near a volcano.”
Expressing his appreciation of the host’s efforts, Coach Andrew Mok, who leads Touché’s team in Indonesia, said, “Thank you to the organisers, it was an excellent tournament, plenty of competitive fencers, video referees during the knockout stages, and a wonderful presentation in an excellent venue.”
He said the welcome and outpouring of goodwill between Touché’s team and the local fencers has been amazing.
Coach Andrew Mok continued, “We hope that this will mean more fencers from Indonesia will travel to Kuala Lumpur for tournaments and development trips. The doors to the club are always open.”
“We are indeed honoured to bring home to Malaysia the overall club trophy, we look forward to the next tournament which will be both competitive and exciting for our fencers,” concluded Coach Andrew who is also Selangor State’s SUKMA (Malaysian Games) fencing coach for foil.
The West Java International Fencing Championship 2023 was held over four days from 13 to 16 November at the Harris Hotel and Conventions Festival Citylink in Bandung.
