Hanniel Abella managed to exact sweet revenge on her finals tormentor back in 2017 yesterday in the 30th Southeast Asian Games fencing competitions yesterday at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
The 26-year old Abella’s 15-10 win over defending champion Nguyá»…n Thị NhÆ° Hoa of Vietnam in the women’s epee championship put her in the championship round against newcomer Rahman Abdul.
But Abella proved no match for the longer reach of Abdul, and the Filipina veteran fell to a 12-15 setback.
For Abdul, this will be her first ever crown on first outing in the regional meet, while Abella took home her second silver since bowing Nguyen in the finals back in 2017.
“This is my first time here. So I just did the right things I needed to do to score,” said Abdul.
Abdul stayed ahead after taking a 6-3 lead in the first round, and build her edge from there with here defensive moves.
“Kinapos siya at nahirapan sa Singaporean dahil mahaba ang kamay niya. Pero nabalikan niya iyung nakalaban niya for the gold in 2017,” said assistant coach Arman Bernal.
Earlier, Nathaniel Perez settled for the bronze in the men’s individual foil in bowing to Hans Yoong of Malaysia in the semis.
Chornnasun Mayakarn of Thailand eventually took the top honor with his 15-14 win over Yoong.