Cut from the same cloth

WITH a veteran fencer for a father, it was only natural for Ng Yen Seng to follow in his footsteps.

That’s which he did at the age of 16, but genes were not the primary factor for his choice of fencing as a sport.

“My father has been a fencer for more than 30 years. When I was 16 years old, he asked me whether I would like to join him for one of his training sessions. I agreed as it was not as tiring as badminton, and I thought I would look cool with a sword,” said Ng, a final year microelectronics student at Tuanku Abdul Rahman University College.

Ng was supposed to have graduated last March but was struck by a bout of tuberculosis, where he was quarantined in his room for more than one month. He has still not fully recovered at the time of this interview as he still had to go back to the hospital for a final check-up.

The TARUC authorities, knowing of Ng’s interest in fencing, asked him to set up a club on campus as they wanted to introduce a non-traditional sport to students.

“I agreed as my microelectronics course only had four students then (in 2014) and I wanted to get to know more people.

“So, I formed the TARUC Fencing Club with eight members at first. We signed up 70 new members but only 40 turned up for the first training session, and this dwindled to 10 for the next session,” said Ng, who was part of the Selangor team that took part in the 2012 Malaysia Games, and made the semi-finals of the team epee event.

The TARUC Fencing Club have between 30 and 40 members, who attend their Friday training sessions at the campus sports centre.

Ng’s father has been the club’s coach since May and he has been in charge of TARUC‘s co-curricular fencing class a year earlier.

Both males and females make up an equal proportion of membership in the club. Though both sexes don the same attire and wield the same weapon, Ng pointed out that during sparring sessions and competitions, the females have to wear an extra item in the form of a chest-guard.

“The attire (inner and outsidewear jackets) ensure protection from any form of injury, with the pants withstanding up to 35kg in weight,” assured Ng.

Ng’s wish for the fencing club before he graduates is to organise an open competition, “where everyone can join”.

His wish is about to come true as the TARUC Fencing Club will be organising an Open tournament on Oct 7 and 8 at the Setapak campus, starting at 8am and ending at 5pm each day.

Fencing traces its roots to the development of swordsmanship for duels and self-defence. The origin of modern fencing can be traced back to Spain, where some of the most significant books on the sport were written by Spanish fencers. The mechanics of modern fencing originated in the 18th century in an Italian school of fencing of the Renaissance, and under their influence, were improved by the French school of fencing.