The First day of the National fencing championship came to an end yesterday at the Rathmalana MDS fencing club premises with much excitement and anticipation.
Fencing being a rather new sport in the country is looked at as a sport where a medal at the Olympics is possible and when it comes to the talent, it is clear that we have it on our home soil when one is exposed to tournaments of this sort. The Fencers participating at this tournament showed a lot of spirit and the talent too is truly commendable.
In the Men’s Epee weapon category Madushanke Randika of the Slimeline fencing club won Gold while Dushan Lahiru of Slimetex Fencing club won the Silver medal. Epee being a light weapon category it is important for the Fencer to think quickly as in any bout in Fencing and to anticipate the opponents move while countering it to win the bout. Randika did just that in the finals and it was a really interesting one while Dushan didn’t fall too far back with his parry attacks.
In the Men’s Foil category Suresh Sudarshana the skipper of the MDS Fencing club Fenced against fellow team mate Tharindu Madumal in the final where the skipper proved his skill and his position as skipper by winning the bout quite convincingly. The piste seemed like a playground for these two fencers who seemed to enjoy the bout as did the spectators who were mostly made up of the MAS Holdings group employees cheering on their peers.
In the Women’s category of the foil weapon category Ashoka Udayangani of the Silueta Fencing club faced off against Sandeepa Sandamali of the Slimeline Fencing club which Udayangani won but had to fight hard for her position on the podium. Sandamali was quick and effective with her parries while Udayangani seemed to be very light on her feet and took this to her advantage against Udayangani.
In the heavy weights section of the weapon category; the Sabre category, Anuruddhika Dananjali of Slimeline fencing club fought against team mate Chathurika Senevirathne in the Women’s final. Chathurika was caught off guard which proved costly to Anuruddhika’s lunged attacks. Anuruddhika won the bout earning herself the gold medal in the Women’s Sabre weapon category.
Today is the second and final day of the National Fencing championships and the general public is invited to come witness the sport where the best in the country Fence off for the national title.
