A BRIEF meeting with Percival Alger, a Filipino fencer who competed in the individual sabre event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, will hopefully inspire Paris Olympics-bound Samantha Catantan.
Alger, who placed 37th out of 40 contestants at the Seoul Games, was in town to receive an award with Catantan on Tuesday during a short and simple awarding ceremonies at the College of St. Benilde’s Sports and Dorm Complex in Malate, Manila.
“I hope you inspire other fencers,” said Alger, a gold medalist in sabre at the 1987 Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta to Catantan, a day before she leaves for a training camp in Venice, Italy.
The 60-year-old Alger, who is now based in San Francisco, California, was the first Filipino fencer to qualify in the Olympics before Walter “Wawit” Torres, now a Philippine Sports Commissioner, who went to the Barcelona Olympics. Both Alger and Torres wished Catantan well.
Catantan, along with seven others, received their recognition from Philippine Olympians Association, headed by swimmer Akiko Thomson-Guevarra.
The other honorees were swimmers Christine Jacobs, Guy Concepcion and Jessie King Lacuna, taekwondo jin Elaine Alora and judoka Benjie McMurray.
“I’m just happy that it evolved to this. At first, it was only the fencers who will be awarded. Then, there were others who were available,” said Thomson-Guevarra.
Catantan leaves for Italy on Wednesday for a two-week training camp, with Penn State University fencing team foil coach Matteo Zennaro, joining her.
Zennaro, who is from Italy, arranged the training camp when she qualified for the Olympics last April.
“With the help of my coaches at Penn State University, we’re able to arrange this training camp,” said Catantan.
The Filipina fencer recently received support from DRI+ , which is under Burlington Industries PH, Inc. as she met with company General Manager Ruddy Tan and Production Manager Dexter Tan.
DRI+ by Burlington treated her fencing jacket and breeches with its DRI+ Technology that moves moisture away from the skin.
The 22-year-old Catantan earned a spot in the Paris Olympics by winning the women’s foil gold medal in the Asian & Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament last April in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.