~JcZw

Its nice to know that under 1 meter, where the foil is hard to wield, I can match Singapore's junior national fencers point for point, blade for blade. The only difficulty is getting there in the first place. Then again, I think today's team bout against Tan YZ was one of the most satisfying in my career. Survived a torrent of flicks and slashes from the very physically strong fencer from RJC to draw at 5-5 and maintain a 3 point lead for my team through stop hits and close quarters. One of his flicks opened an ugly injury on my little finger which stained my glove with blood, but the bout was good.

I nearly scored my best ever hit. The referee was giving "En Garde" and I was standing there wondering, "I'm against one of the strongest junior fencers in Singapore and he's reading me pretty well and stop hit's not going to work forever. What's the move which he'll least expect?"

At "Pret", I narrowed the on-guard stance and bent my knees.

At "Allez", I did a perfect flying fleche and flicked for his shoulder. To my intense disappontment, the blade scraped on his electric jacket before finally depressing on his arm just short of the shoulder. But I totally caught him napping cos he didn't move. What a pity. Still, for me, the back flick is in the development stage (I first used it competitively in FSI this year), so there's more time yet.

Still, though we only reached the quarters, the day was more tiring than I give it credit for I think. Shall be pushing off to sleep soon...