University of the Philippines moved into second place in the UAAP Season 88 Collegiate Men’s Fencing Championships as Calix Ho successfully defended the university’s epee individual title with a thrilling 15–12 victory over De La Salle University’s Edan Ensamtan on Friday at the Makati Coliseum.
Ho, a rookie from Victory Christian International School and son of actor Dennis Trillo, followed up on national team stalwart Miggy Bautista’s gold from the previous season to send the Fighting Maroons to a 1–0–1 gold-silver-bronze medal tally, just a silver behind the Green Fencers’ 1–1–1 record.
“It feels so surreal talaga kasi I worked for this so hard. Like I put my blood, sweat, and tears to this, and it finally paid off. The thought of this day has been haunting me — what if I don’t perform? But gladly, Father God helped me,” said Ho, a Home Economics freshman.
Ho overcame Ateneo de Manila University’s Jotham Thai, 15–10, in the quarterfinals, before pulling off a comeback against University of Santo Tomas’ Adam Putian, 15–14, to reach the gold medal match.
“I just don’t want to be cocky, and I really want to focus on the team event. Right now, we’re trying to focus on the team event, but this, I would say, is absolute goosebumps,” said the 18-year-old upstart, who started fencing just three years ago.
Teammate John Dexter Ramos collected another bronze medal, while Putian earned the UST Male Fencers’ first medal with his third-place finish.
The reigning 13-time champions, the Red Warriors, completed the top three after opening day with a 0–1–1 tally, thanks to the morning’s sabre medals won by Khiane Felipe and Christian Anthony Concepcion.
Meanwhile, De La Salle Zobel’s Vito Coching finally broke through with a gold medal in his final year of high school, claiming the boys’ sabre individual gold over Ateneo’s Matthew General, 15–12.
“It means a lot to me. Heading to this tournament, I was really anxious because this is my last year as a high school student,” said Coching, a Grade 12 student-athlete. “My parents just said, ‘Go out there, play, be yourself.’ I just prayed and read the Bible, because all actions came from God Himself.”
Opao Cantantan also made her mark, securing the Junior Lady Warriors’ lead after day one by defeating UST Junior Female Fencer Aubrey Fernandez, 15–12, in the girls’ foil individual final.
“Grabe po ‘yung pressure ko, kaninang umaga pa po, kasi nga national team po ako. So lahat po sila nag-e-expect po sa ‘kin na manalo po ako,” said one of the Cantantan sisters, who helped the national women’s foil team win bronze at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games last year.
“Sobrang saya ko lang po na na-overcome ko po ‘yung pressure sa’kin today. And grabe rin po ‘yung kaba ko kasi wala pa kaming gold today. So, ‘yung rin po talaga ‘yung pinaka-ine-aim ko kanina,” added the reigning back-to-back MVP.
Completing the boys’ sabre podium were Ateneo’s Mairon Moulic and UE’s James Lim, while Ateneo’s Hannah Belarmino and Marian Castro rounded out the girls’ foil medalists.
Coching’s gold puts the Junior Green Fencers level with the PAREF Southridge Admirals, each with one gold, just ahead of the Blue Eagles (0–1–3) and the Junior Warriors.
The UE Junior Lady Warriors led the pack after day one with Cantantan’s gold, just ahead of the UST Junior Female Fencers’ 0–1–1 tally and the Ateneo Blue Eagles’ 0–0–1 record.
