Fencing showing potential amid constraints

Although fencing is a centuries-old sport and has been featured in Olympics since the beginning of the modern games, it is relatively new in Bangladesh.

The sport, which is only 13 years old in the country, drew wide attention after Fatema Mujib grabbed a gold medal in sabre event of the South Asian Games in December last year.

Despite the lack of facilities, regular domestic competitions, quality coaches and sponsors, fencing is considered as a discipline which can earn laurels from beyond the South Asian region due to the nature of the sport which relies more on players' technique and intelligence rather physical prowess.

Fatema, a 21-year-old Navy athlete, believes achieving something beyond the SA Games is a daydream until the existing facilities are improved and junior fencers are given room to be groomed.

"We badly need support from all quarters -- officials and coaches -- to become good fencers. Facilities such as long-term training under quality foreign coaches, a good number of domestic and international competitions and backing of sponsors have to be ensured," Fatema told The Daily Star.

"Without preparation, it will be a daydream to win any medal from international meets," Fatema said. "We need to develop junior fencers, who hardly get opportunities to play competitive matches. They must be given room to compete in domestic and international competitions regularly."

Fatema took to fencing in 2012, thanks to her brother Saddam Mujib, also a fencer, who trained her for one year. In 2013, Fatema, who had initially wanted to be a cricketer, went into competitive circle and kept winning gold medals. She won four gold medals in four successive national championships in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

"As a fencer, I always keep my sights far ahead and I am always ready to compete. We are happy to play as much as we can. It will be really good for the fencers if we can take part in domestic and international tournaments regularly because the national championship is irregular," said Fatema.

Due to a lack of financial support, the Bangladesh Fencing Federation cannot hold national championships regularly and cannot pay much attention to new players for comparatively expensive outfit required to play the sport. The fencers need at least Tk 30,000 to buy a jacket, trousers, mask, sword and shoes for the sport.

In this respect, Bangladesh Navy and other services team are playing a great role by providing the expensive gears to their players. Fatema is thankful to four-time national champions Bangladesh Navy who have provided all-out support to her since 2016. 

Ahead of the SA Games, the lady from Habiganj struggled in the high altitude and cold weather of Kathmandu. But she overcame all those hurdles by running in open space and drinking hot water on the matchdays to win the gold medal ahead of opponents from Sri Lanka, India and Nepal.

She beat an Indian Olympian in semifinals before beating left-handed Rabina Thapa of Nepal in the final, thanks to her experience of practising against her male teammates who were tall and left-handed. 

Fatema informed that she had learned a lot of things under the supervision of the Cambodian and Iranian coaches during the SA Games training camp, but she needs more improvement to do well beyond South Asia. 

"I believe the technique and intelligence I have is good enough to compete in South Asian region but we need better equipment, individual sponsors and a good foreign coach to improve our physical and technical aspects if we really want to achieve something at higher level of competitions," said Fatema.