FENCING: Looking Sharp

DEBUT: Peng Kean eager to take on the world’s best

Yu Peng Kean

YU Peng Kean is delighted to be the first Malaysian fencer to compete at the Olympics in 48 years but remains adamant that the trip to London will be more for exposure than challenging for honours.

The 21-year-old, who is currently coached by China’s Rao Bin, said qualifying for the London Games on merit was a huge achievement and thathewaslookingtomakethemost of the opportunity to compete with the world’s best.

Peng Kean, who looks up to Russian Olympic bronze medallist Aleksey Yakimenko, qualified for the men’s individual sabre event by virtue of finishing second among Asia-Oceanic fencers who had yet to qualify for London at the end of the cut-off period last March.

“I was over the moon when the Malaysian Fencing Federation (MFF) told me of the news that I had qualified for the Olympics,” said Peng Kean, who has been training in Rome and Guangzhou earlier this year as part of his preparation for Olympics.

“My main objective at the Olympics will be to gain as much experience and exposure competing against the best fencers in the world.

“I expect that the competition will be very tough. However, I definitely will give it my all at the Games.

“I am hoping to achieve a top-16 finish which will not be easy as making it past the preliminaries will already be a great challenge.” Besides being the first Malaysian to qualify for the Olympics since fomer MFF president Ronnie Theseira in 1964, the 1.78m Peng Kean was also part of the men’s sabre team that won gold at the Indonesia Sea Games last year to end Malaysia’s 22-year gold drought in the sport at the Games.

• Name: Yu Peng Kean
• Date of birth: May 8, 1991
• Place of birth: Malacca
• Career Achievements: 2011 Indonesia Sea Games men’s sabre team gold medal, 2011 Asian Fencing Championships, Seoul, South Korea, finished seventh in Men’s individual sabre event
• London expectations: Top 16 finish in men’s individual sabre
• Competition dates: July 29
Read more: FENCING: Looking sharp - Other - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/sports/other/fencing-looking-sharp-1.109747#ixzz21Fh1ulSW

Fencers End Campaign With Second Gold

JAKARTA: The national fencing squad ended their 26th SEA Games' campaign Friday with the second gold medal at Balairung Universitas Indonesia, 30km from here.

Fencers Muhammad Radhi Hasim, Yu Peng Kean and Liong Ming Chang outfoxed Vietnam's Vu Thanh An, Nguyen Van Quynh and To Van Hop 45-37 in sabre team event to clinch Malaysia's second gold from fencing.

National team manager Riduan Abdul said he was satisfied with the overall performance of the squad as it had surpassed the target set by the National Sports Council - one gold from an individual event.

"I am glad that we got another gold today after Joshua Koh delivered us the first gold in individual epee," he told Bernama at the close of the competition.

Earlier, the Malaysian trio beat Gian Carlo Nocom, Edmon Velez and Eric Brando Ii from the Philippines 45-33 in the semi-final while Vietnam beat Thailand 44-43.

The national fencing squad bagged two golds and five bronzes, outshining their previous best performance at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in 1989. - Bernama

It’s ‘Pay Back’ Time For Liong

JAKARTA: Fencer Liong Ming Chang wore a big smile on his face yesterday.

That’s because he will finally get his money back after helping the men’s sabre team win a gold medal on the last day of the fencing competition yesterday.

Ming Chang, Mohd Radhi Hasim, Yu Peng Keang and reserve Nurul Ariezzat Ismail gave a rousing performance to beat Vietnam’s Vu Thanh An, Nguyen Van Quynh, To Van Hop 45-37 in the final.

Ming Chang is at the Games under Category B where the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) will reimburse the cost for the trip if the athletes win a silver or gold medal.

“Now, I can repay the Johor Sports Council for funding my trip here,” said the 22-year-old mathematics and science student at Universiti Putra Malaysia.

“As a Category B athlete, the overall cost for me was RM3,000. Now, I will be able to claim this amount from the OCM. The money aside, the experience for me was priceless.”

For Ming Chang, the win also came as a surprise as all his team-mates were injured. Radhi and Nurul are still recovering from hamstring injuries while Peng Keang has been troubled by a knee injury.

“Despite all this, the team did well to beat Vietnam in a convincing manner. It is a great boost and will motivate us to continue with our pursuit for honours in other tournaments – like the world meet and Asian Games,” said Ming Chang, who picked up the sport when he was a student at the Bandar Penawar Sports School.

Team manager Riduan Abdul gave his fencers the thumbs-up for their overall performance over the five days.

“It was a great start and a great finish by the fencers. We started with Joshua Koh I-Jie winning the gold medal in the individual epee and today, our sabre team ended our campaign with a gold medal,” said Riduan.

“In fact, fencing has contributed one medal every day. This is a great success for us as we will go home with two gold and five bronze medals.”

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