The much-coveted gold medal remains elusive for the Philippine National Fencing Team.
This, as Hanniel Abella settled for silver in the women’s individual epeè finals in the 30th Southeast Asian Games Wednesday afternoon at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
The fencer from Rizal bowed to Kiria Abdul Rahman of Singapore, 12-15, as her fightback fell short.
Still, it was a solid performance all throughout for the 26-year-old Abella, highlighted by her 15-10 ouster of defending champion Nguyen Thi Nu Hoa of Vietnam in the semifinals.
Abella exacted revenged on the Vietnamese, as the latter got gold in the 2017 Games at her expense.
On the other hand, Nathaniel Perez settled for the bronze in medal the men’s individual foil category.
The former three-time UAAP Most Valuable Player bowed to Hans Wei Shen Yoong of Malaysia, 11-15.
The University of the East product failed to emulate his campaign in the 2017 meet, where he went all the way to the finals before bowing to fellow Filipino Brenna Wayne Louie to bag silver.
