Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
NATIONAL fencer Wardatul Izzah Hj Ahmad Ramzuna claimed the silver medal in the women's sabre event at the Irish Open 2021 on Sunday.
She won six out of eight matches in the round robin stage to finish as the second seed entering the elimination rounds at the National Indoor Area in Dublin.
Wardatul was handed a bye in the round of 16 before defeating Saoirse Mcglinchey 15-7 in the quarter-finals.
She then dispatched Emma Mclaughlin 15-10 in the semi-finals to set up the title decider.
Contesting under the banner of Dublin University Fencing Club, Wardatul settled for second place after falling to Northern Ireland's Beth Taylor 15-11 in the final.
Wardatul only got back to training when it was reinstated in Ireland about a month ago whereby she only once a week training sessions due to her university workload.
"Although my goal was to win gold, I did also prepare for suboptimal results so I'm not totally gutted by yesterday's (Sunday's) outcome," said Wardatul in an interview with BruSports News on Monday.
"I was pleased with my performance throughout the day particularly in the final match when I was down 8-3 going into the one-minute break.
"But some words of advice from my teammates allowed me to score eight points in the second half of the match," she added.
"Too little too late but it was an exciting comeback nonetheless and I'm very proud of not giving up till the end.
"It was a good learning experience in thinking on my feet and adapting to different styles of fencing as fencers in the semis and final were quite experienced and accomplished on the national circuit," continued Wardatul.
The tournament over the weekend was the first since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
