A combined total of five gold medals with seven silvers and 13 bronzes were pocketed by Team Philippines in the Southeast Asian Fencing Federation (SEAFF) Junior and Cadet championship held at the Arena TSH OCM in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Oscar del Castillo led the charge for the Nationals as he earned a silver medal in the 21-and-under junior men’s epee individual, and later bagged the gold medal in the 17-and-under cadet men’s epee.

The 16-year-old Del Castillo lost to Singapore’s Benjamin Lee 15-11 in the finals of junior men’s epee last Monday, but rebounded with a convincing 15-8 win against Do Dang Khoi of Vietnam in cadet men’s last Friday.

Willa Galvez, on the other hand, earned a bronze medal in junior women’s foil individual, while in cadet Hagia del Castillo settled with a silver, with Victoria Ebdane and Yuna Canlas taking bronze medal each in women’s foil individual.

Galvez won over Singapore’s Sita Naidu Maaravis, 15-14, in the quarterfinals but dropped a 15-8 decision to eventual gold medalist and Malaysia national team member Suraya Rizzal.

As for Del Castillo, she missed out on the gold medal following a 15-7 defeat to Oo Chin Yu of Malysia in the finals after beating Ebdane in the semifinals 15-3, while Canlas suffered a 15-5 loss to Oo in the other bracket of the Final Four.

Also earning bronze medals in cadet individual categories are Don Geronimo in men’s epee, Jethro Chan in men’s foil and Papina Torre in women’s epee.

In team events, Galvez and Ebdane teamed up with Jodie Tan to secure the junior women’s foil gold, before Ebdane and Tan joined hands with Canlas and Del Castillo to take home the cadet women’s foil gold.

Khiane Felipe, a member of the national team, connived with Vito Coching, Drake Chung and Matthew General as they ruled the sabre junior men’s team, while Del Castillo starred with Joaquin de Silos, Jacob Mayo and Li Jiashu to win the epee cadet men’s team.

Galvez likewise got a silver in the cadet women’s foil team with Christine May Morales and Victoria Malvar, while the women’s epee team of Papina Torre, Eleina Junia and Faith Olemos also won a silver medal.