University of Santo Tomas reigning UAAP champion Noelito Jose successfully maintained his position as men’s individual epee king, as he trounced fellow national team mainstay, Nathaniel Perez of the University of the East, 15-10, Wednesday morning at the Ateneo Blue Eagle Gym.
The Thomasian emerged victorious from a tight pool that included Perez, the University of the Philippines’ Apa Rondain, and another national team member Joshua Rodriguez. Jose did not drop a bout en route to taking top spot in the group. However, the top seed would come from the other pool. UE’s Lee Ergina also swept his competitors to take the top draw going into the direct eliminations.
In the Round of 16 match, fourth-year Ateneo de Manila University fencer Joao Celestino pulled the rag on Rodriguez in overtime. Rodriguez had led the bout for most of the time, but Celestino mounted a comeback as he aggressively attacked the De La Salle University graduating epeeist. In the end, the Ateneo clinched the last quarterfinals slot, 15-13.
The quarterfinals bouts saw different stories. Perez swiftly tackled Dino Arribas from the University of Santo Tomas, 15-11, while schoolmate Ergina shook off Celestino’s challenge, 14-8. At the bottom half of the draw, Jose repeated his pool win over Rondain in the last eight, 15-11. The other senior Green Fencer, Rayd Orozco set a duel against Jose, after edging out Ateneo rookie and last year’s boys’ epee champion, Simon Borja, 12-8.
It was tight semifinals pairing between the two Red Warriors, before the reigning Most Valuable Player, Perez, slowly gained the upper hand against Ergina and finished it off, 15-13. Jose then followed his colleague in the Philippine team into the Finals with a dominant 15-4 victory over Orozco.
In the gold medal bout, Perez easily took the first two points. Afterwards, Jose used his counter-attacking strategy and it paid dividends as he pulled away, 12-7. UE tried to come back; nevertheless, the Tiger Fencer finished the bout off a quick touché, 15-10.
The two-time champion and third-year veteran Jose shared that going into the season he has thought of enjoying the experience and not mind the pressure of repeating as gold medalist. He said, “Hindi ko alam kung kailangang isipin ko ba na mag-gold uli o enjoy-in na lang? Talo kung talo, manalo kung manalo.”
Eventually, the Thomasian junior decided to just take it all in and relish the moment until he finally retained the title in España. With his lead, Jose hopes that UST can sustain the run en route to, perhaps, regaining the overall men’s fencing championship.
“Team captain din kasi ko. Hindi ako ganun kagaling magsalita sa kanila. Ang ginagawa ko lang, role model ako na hindi ko na sasabihin sa kanila, gayahin na lang nila na lahat ginagawa ko para sa team,” he ended.
