SEA Games 2025: A united Team Singapore deliver record fencing medal haul

BANGKOK – Mafia, a strategic elimination icebreaker where players deduce hidden roles and vote each other out, has been the game of choice for the national fencers during overseas competitions.

It has also helped in team bonding, uniting the athletes regardless of their gender and weapons.

And this close-knit group have mastered the art of elimination on the piste, dominating their regional rivals to claim eight out of 12 golds at the SEA Games in Thailand – a record haul for Singapore fencing at the biennial event.

Their previous best was seven golds at the 2023 edition in Cambodia.

On Dec 19, at the Fashion Island Shopping Mall’s Island Hall, where the men’s epee team and women’s foil team won Singapore’s seventh and eighth fencing gold, the camaraderie proved to be a winner again.

In the stands, Juliet Heng – who won the women’s individual sabre title on Dec 16 – led the cheers for the squad, as their noise and energy gave the venue a carnival-like atmosphere.

Azfar Luqman Ong, who along with men’s epee teammates Si To Jian Tong, Simon Lee and Bron Sheum secured gold with a 44-34 victory over defending champions Vietnam in the final, hailed his compatriots for their loud support.

He said: “Of course, who wouldn’t do better with people cheering for them, right? Going into these Games, all the national fencers actually know each other very well already, because this isn’t just the first time that we’ve been together as a team. The epee, both men and women, we know each other very, very well because we’ve been together since youth categories.

“As for the rest of the national team, recently, we started becoming closer to each other because we’ve started going to many more overseas competitions. We are communicating and hanging out with each other much more. Even during dinner, we will sit with our other weapon mates, like the foil and sabre fencers.

“Maybe to de-stress we play icebreaker games. We have a good team spirit.”

Jian Tong and Lee were also driven by the disappointment of missing out on an individual gold on Dec 17. Defending champion Jian Tong was knocked out in the quarter-finals by Vietnam’s Nguyen Phuoc Den, while the latter claimed a joint-bronze.

Jian Tong, 22, said: “After the individual event, I just felt sorry for myself, the people who have been supporting because I couldn’t manage to fence my best.

“Instead of thinking about the fact that I did not meet the expectations, I just forgot about the negative things and kept a positive mindset. In individual, I didn’t do well but now I have a team and we’ll do it together.”

Meanwhile, the quartet of Amita Berthier, Maxine Wong, Cheung Kemei and Stephanie Lee made it lucky No. 8 when they retained their women’s foil team title with a 45-31 victory over the Philippines in the final. It was Singapore’s fifth consecutive gold medal in this event after victories in 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2023.

There were no team events in 2017.

Wong also credited the loud cheers from her teammates for giving them a “big boost”.

“It gave us a lot of energy, a lot of positive energy to hear them cheer for us and making a lot of noise,” said Wong, a silver medallist in the individual event.

“We could really hear them, from the left and right, (even) those who are not part of the contingent, but they came to watch us as spectators and I think it really gave us a big boost.”

Two-time Olympian Berthier, 25, who won the women’s individual foil, along with Raphael Tan, 20, (men’s individual and team foil), and 18-year-old Elle Koh (women’s individual epee and team epee) have two gold medals each from these Games.

With their total medal haul of eight golds, three silvers and two bronzes, Singapore retained their spot as the top fencing nation, with Vietnam (3-2-5) and Thailand (1-3-6) second and third respectively.

While he noted that the eight-gold result is a “historic milestone”, Fencing Singapore president David Chen added that “we are most proud of the class and sportsmanship our fencers displayed”.

He said: “Records are meant to be broken, but the grit and genuine joy our athletes showed resonated far beyond the medal tally. This haul proves that when our fencers compete with composure and heart, the results follow naturally. We are immensely proud of how they carried the Singapore flag.”

The fraternity is already looking beyond the 2025 SEA Games.

“Our goal is a bold 12 gold medals at the 2029 home Games,” said Chen.

“This is eminently achievable because our pipeline is brimming with talent; young champions like Raphael and Elle will be in their absolute prime by then. To get there, we will continue to invest heavily in coaching and overseas exposure, ensuring our next-gen fencers are ready to step up.”