Singapore fencer Amita Berthier narrowly misses out on Asian Games medal

HANGZHOU: It was ultimately one mountain too many for Singapore’s Amita Berthier, who was eliminated in the women’s individual foil quarter-finals at the Asian Games on Monday (Sep 25).

At the Hangzhou Dianzi University Gymnasium, the 22-year-old fell 11-15 to South Korea’s Hong Sena. The South Korean is ranked 47th in the world, while Berthier is 32nd.

A win would have put Berthier through to the semi-finals and guaranteed her at least a joint-bronze.

“I definitely felt fatigued towards the second end of my match, because I didn't have 10 minutes of rest between my last match and the next one,” said the Singaporean.

“But that’s not an excuse, I should still be beating my opponent, no matter how tired I am.”

Berthier won two bouts in the pool round of the competition, with her four losses being 4-5 defeats.

In the table of 16, she pulled off a remarkable comeback against Uzbekistan’s Umida Ilyosova.

The Singaporean came back from as many as five points down to clinch a nail-biting 15-14 victory.

On the other hand, her South Korean opponent in the quarter finals began her table of 16 match earlier, winning 15-11.

“Have to go back to the books and see maybe my stamina is not good enough, but I'm pretty sure if I had at least five, 10 minutes more of rest, I would have been more fired up from the beginning,” said Berthier.

“It was just very overwhelming having to run from one place to another after a very intense bout that I just had.”

One of the two flag bearers for Singapore at the Asiad, Berthier clinched a bronze at the Asian Fencing Championships earlier this year.

At the last edition of the Asian Games in 2018, she was eliminated in the table of 16.

“I'm very proud to always represent my country,” said Berthier, who will next