FILIPINO fencer Sam Catantan’s road to Paris Olympic glory is full of thorns and spikes.
Ms. Catantan said there is a chance she would meet either one of the top two fencers in the world as early as the round-of-32 in women’s foil in Paris for her failure to join international meets and accumulate ranking points due to a left ACL injury last year that sidelined her for eight months.
“I was out the whole year because of the injury and started fencing by the end of February, eight months without fencing, all rehab, physical training and strength and conditioning,” said Ms. Catantan, who sustained the injury during last year’s Phnom Penh Southeast Asian Games, in yesterday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
“Up to now naka-knee braise pa ako for safety.”
“But like I always say, ibibigay ko best ko and perform at the highest level,” she added.
National team coach Roland Amat said the road for Ms. Catantan starts outside the round-of-32 where she would face the qualifiers who will be ranked outside the top 32 in a knockout format.
If she survives it, she’ll barge straight to the next phase where she would face either World No. 1 Lee Kiefer of the United States or No. 2 Martina Favaretto of Italy.
“Importante nabuksan na pinto. Parang si Hidilyn (Diaz), iyun din susundan namin,” said Mr. Amat.
The tricky part though is that there is a chance Ms. Catantan could run into former national teammate Maxine Esteban, now representing Ivory Coast, in that round.
“First of all, mas gusto namin makalaban ibang country. Si Sam and Maxine matagal na mag teammate, sila naman talaga lagi naglalaban even sa Philippines,” said Amat. “Pero kung magkatapat sila, paghahandaan namin iyun.” — Joey Villar
