Perez's silver lone bright spot for Philippine fencers as drawbacks mar SEA Games foil, sabre campaigns

MANILA, Philippines — Nathaniel Perez added another silver medal for the Philippine fencing team even as his teammates suffered early elimination in the men's individual foil and women's individual sabre in the 31st Southeast Asian Games at the Hanoi Indoor Games Palace on Sunday.

In men's individual foil, Sammuel Tranquilan was eliminated by Malaysian champion Hans Yoong, 8-15, while 2019 SEA Games bronze medalist Nathaniel Perez survived a close 15-13 match against Singapore's Kieren Hoy-In Lock to reach the semifinals.

The University of the East alumnus and three-time UAAP fencing MVP hoped to improve on his previous Games result and rallied against Vietnam's Quang Nguyen Minh, 15-11, to make the finals. But Singapore's Tian Wei Jonathan Au Eong proved to be a tough opponent as Perez settled for silver, 8-15.

In the women's individual sabre, 2019 SEA Games gold medalist Jylyn Nicanor suffered multiple losses in the preliminaries and failed to advance.

For her part, Nicole Cortey survived the elimination round and managed a win against Indonesia to reach the quarterfinals but was eliminated by the eventual gold medalist Ha Bui Thi Thu of Vietnam.