Singapore women’s epee team clinch joint bronze at Asian Fencing Championships

SINGAPORE – Singapore clinched a historic joint bronze in the women’s epee team event at the Asian Fencing Championships on June 24, after a 45-41 defeat by China in the semi-finals.

At the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, the team, comprising Kiria Tikanah Abdul Rahman, Elle Koh, Esther Tan and Denise Seah, beat the Philippines 45-34 in the table-of-16 before overcoming third seeds Hong Kong 45-38 in the last eight.

The sixth-seeded Singaporeans claimed the joint bronze with Kazakhstan, who lost 45-29 in the other semi-final to South Korea.

The South Koreans went on to edge out China 44-43 for the title.

Kiria, who won the individual women’s epee bronze in 2025, was proud of how the team’s hard work led to their latest achievement, particularly as this was their first medal in the event.

The 25-year-old said: “Winning an individual medal last year was special, but sharing this one with my teammates makes it a completely different experience.

“It also shows how much our team has grown over the years. Hopefully it’s the first of many more medals to come.”

Singapore’s best finish at the Asian meet is a silver by Juliet Heng in the women’s sabre at the 2025 edition.

The nation’s fencers have also finished on the podium in previous years, with Amita Berthier and Kiria bagging individual joint bronze medals in the women’s foil and epee in 2023 and 2025 respectively.

Singapore were also women’s foil team bronze medallists in 2010, 2022, 2023 and 2025.

Koh noted that their showing at the Asian championships is a boost of confidence ahead of the Sept 19 to Oct 4 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

She added: “I am very grateful that my team trusted me to anchor in the team event.

“We’ve always had a hard time against Hong Kong but having it be in our favour today is definitely a personal milestone.

“I was nervous coming into the team event since it is my first time anchoring in a senior team event, but we trusted each other, and even when we faced set backs today, I had faith in our ability to fight and give it our all.”

The last time Singapore won an Asiad medal was in 2018, when Maxine Wong, Tatiana Wong, Melanie Huang and Berthier captured the women’s team foil bronze.

Before that, the only other time that the country stood on the podium at the continental meet was when Lim Wei Wen snagged the men’s individual epee bronze at the 2014 Incheon Games.

National partner coach for epee Henry Koh also believes that their performance at this week’s competition bodes well for the future.

He said: “This is a firm step in the right direction to do well at the Asian Games and for qualification to the LA Olympics.

“We have proven that we are going in the right direction in our planning and our training, and will continue to work hard.”

Fencing Singapore vice-president Daniel Lim noted that the medal is not an isolated milestone.

Along with the country’s other breakthroughs on the regional stage in recent years, he believes that it proves that Singapore can be competitive among their Asian counterparts.

He said: “We hope it inspires more young people to pick up the sport.

“With the Asian Games ahead, there is an important opportunity for corporate partners and the public to come onboard and get behind our athletes as we push for the next historic breakthrough.”