| Fadhil Yunus |
THE Brunei Darussalam Fencing Federation (BDFF) will organise the fourth edition of the Brunei Open Fencing Championship at the Youth Centre in the capital today.
The competition, which concludes tomorrow, aims to provide experience for all local fencers, especially the new ones. Fencers from Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia will also participate.
The competition aims to prepare, develop and expose local fencers to competitions locally and abroad as well as showcase fencing to the public.
With a total of 80 participants, only individual events will be contested – epee, foil and sabre for both men’s and women’s categories.
There will be a local competition for younger fencers tomorrow.
All events will start at 9am culminating with a medal ceremony at 5pm on each day of the competition.
“Our hope is that our fencers will do well and that the general public come and support them as well as enjoy fencing up close,” said Technical Director of the BDFF Huzaimi bin Haji Abdul Kassim at a press conference at the Youth Centre yesterday.
Competitors will be put into a group or pool. The duration for each game will be three minutes and will be played first to five points.
After the first or preliminary round, each competitor will be ranked and given a seeding. Athletes who perform well in the group stage will receive a higher seeding while those who do not will be given a lower seeding. Once the competitors are seeded, direct elimination will apply.
Meanwhile, Brunei’s Harrisman Ashady bin Haji Ali will be the eldest competitor at 41 in the men’s epee of the Brunei Open Fencing Championship.
Harrisman Ashady, who took up the sport three years ago, has set his sights on winning a gold medal.
The Bruneian’s finest achievement was snatching a bronze medal at the Brunei Darussalam National Games (SKBD) with the Brunei Darussalam Sports Schools Council (MSSSBD). In preparation for the tournament, Harrisman had undergone physical and technique training at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium.
He said that competitors from Indonesia will be his main challenge before citing local athlete Nashriq as one of his direct rivals in his category.