MANILA - Singapore's fencers dominated Thailand to lift the gold medal in the men's foil team final on Saturday (Dec 7).

But few know that the victory had been set in motion the night before, when the team gathered to devise a strategy for facing each opponent in the Thai line-up.

Kevin Chan, 21, told The Straits Times after their 45-26 win over Thailand: "Last night, we sat together thinking about all the different opponents we had faced in the individual competition, so we prepared very well and we did it together.

"We knew we would have someone cover our backs no matter what, so we were very confident."

This teamwork was on display throughout the final, with Darren Tan, Chan, Jet Ng and Joshua Lim jumping, roaring and pumping their fists at almost every point as each took their respective turns on the piste.

Team events were not contested at the 2017 SEA Games , which could explain why the Singaporeans treasured the experience this time round.

Individual bronze medallist Lim, explaining their fervent reactions, said: "The team event is different from the individual match - every point serves as encouragement to keep fighting no matter whether you're losing or winning.

"You have to keep fighting and trust that we'll have one another's backs all the way."

At the World Trade Centre in Manila, Singapore got off to a comfortable 10-0 start by the end of two bouts, leading 12-1 in the third before their opponents won six points in a row.

Thailand, whose line-up included individual gold medallist Mayakarn Chornnasun, closed the gap to within three points in the fourth bout but Singapore pulled away to lead comfortably once more.

There was no looking back for the 2015 champions as they clinched the country's fourth fencing gold of these Games, after which they were inundated with photo requests by local spectators.

The other three fencing golds came from the women's foil team, individual women's foil and individual women's epee.

Ng, who fenced in the third bout, again highlighted the team's philosophy of working together: "I didn't feel any panic (when Thailand's Srisawat Phattanapho won six points in a row) ... if I fence badly in one bout, everyone will come back and help me out. It can happen to anybody and we're just there for one another.

"Everything we do is as a team, no matter what."

Earlier on Saturday, the women's epee team of Victoria Lim, Cheryl Lim, individual champion Kiria Tikanah Abdul Rahman and Rebecca Ong had to settle for silver after losing 45-39 to the Philippines despite holding a slim lead throughout most of the match.

The hosts, rallied by the home crowd, overtook their opponents in the eighth bout and edged ahead to seal victory.

Kiria, who fenced in the ninth and final bout against the same opponent she beat in the individual final (Haniel Abella), said Saturday's match felt "really different", explaining: "In the individual event we started off from square one but in the team event we were a few points behind, so I had to start catching up from the start and that put a bit of stress on me. But I'm not going to give it as an excuse to why we lost."

The silver was the women's epee team's best result since 1989, when Choy Fong Leng, Teo Ah Heok and Chan Lai Yong achieved the same result.

Victoria, 30, said: "We're very happy we were able to make history but we were really hoping to go one better. We're both very proud, (but) it hurts a bit."