The TKU Fencing Team came home with 7 medals to show for after a four-day fierce battle of sword fights that took place at the 2005 National Collegiate Fencing Championship event between December 1 and 4. These medals include a gold as well as a silver in the women’s individual Foil category, a gold in the men’s team Sabre category, and a gold in women’s team Foil category.

All players on the team worked hard and played successfully. In either individual or team events, they unanimously put out their best performance and out-shone their competitors both in spirit and results. Apart from the two gold medals won in the men’s team Sabre and women’s team Foil categories, TKU women’s team won a bronze in the Epee category and men’s team a bronze in the Sabre category respectively. Another bronze comes from the men’s individual Sabre category.

The men’s team Sabre finals were extremely thrilling, as TKU encountered a team that is known for its agility and sheer power, the Fencing team of the Air Force Academy. However, TKU players fought with a calm and methodical composure, mixed with speed, shrewd timing and strategic moves to surpass their opponents by 45 to 41.

In the individual categories, the excitement of women’s Foil finals could match that of the men’s team Sabre finals. It was in fact between two of TKU best female players, Shieh Yi-jun, a senior of the Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering and Yu Meng-hwa, a grad student of the International Affairs and Strategic Studies. After a fierce contest, Shieh eventually won with her sweeping reflexes and unpredictable moves. She thanked her performance for the kind support she received from her team and her coach, who provided her with plenty of exercises, challenges and patience.

Despite her modesty, the team captain, Huang Hou-zhi, a senior of the English Department, could not hide his satisfaction with this year’s results. He hopes to achieve even better results next year and is confident that hard work will pay off eventually.(~ Ying-hsueh Hu )