SOARING SAM: Catantan climbs world ranking; Esteban stays put

Samantha Catantan’s efforts did not go unnoticed as she climbed the International Fencing Federation (FIE) world ranking following her historic win in the women’s individual foil event of the Paris Olympics last Sunday at the Grand Palais in Paris.

From No. 266, Catantan made a huge improvement as she leapfrogged to No. 87 in the FIE ranking after beating Mariana Pistoia of Brazil, 15-13, in the Table of 64 before pushing world No. 3 Arianna Errigo of Italy to the limit in the Table of 32, 12-15.

Catantan’s triumph was greatly celebrated back home as it was the country’s Olympic victory in fencing since Walter Torres, now a commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission, won a match in the men’s foil event of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

Meanwhile, Philippine-born Ivorian Maxine Esteban of Ivory Coast maintained her No. 27 ranking — the highest ever by a local born fencer — despite a 7-15 loss to home bet Pauline Ranvier in the Table of 32.

Esteban will be flying back to Manila on 7 August, together with the members of her family who cheered for her in her Olympic debut.

Catantan mentor Amat Canlas said the improvement in her ranking is a testament to Catantan’s hard work and determination in becoming one of the world’s best female foil fencers.

“Overall, it was a good result. We lacked time because of the qualifiers but she made the most of her training in Venice and Metz,” Canlas said.

“We really prepared for this. We studied the videos and we predicted that she would face either Poland and Brazil and we were right.”

Catantan’s journey to the Olympics wasn’t easy.

After suffering an anterior cruciate ligament tear in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia last year, the 22-year-old Catantan missed a lot of international tourneys that offer ranking points for the Summer Olympics.

With that, she had to compete in the Asia-Oceania Zonal Olympic Qualifier in the United Arab Emirates last April to book her Olympic ticket, where she had to go through the wildcard phase before making it to the main draw.

Canlas, who has been Catantan’s coach since her playing days at the University of the East, said his ward will take a well-deserved break after her maiden Olympic campaign, where she suffered a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury during her match against the Brazilian.

She is now setting her sights on the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) from 21 to 30 November in Thailand.

“For now, she will have to rest due to her injury but now we are setting our sights on AIMAG. She will undergo rehabilitation once she returns to the United States,” Canlas said.

“The MCL is swollen but she can still walk. Even though she had an injury, she wanted to eat her opponent. They all saw that we can do it.”

“This is her first time competing here and she has a lot of potential. We need to have her join FIE competitions for her to earn points.”