Kota Kinabalu: Lim Yin Yin put Sabah fencing on the world map by winning the women épée individual gold medal in the just concluded Shenzhen Fencing Open Championship in China on Friday.She grabbed the title after beating her Shenzhen opponent 15-8 in the final following her earlier 15-12 win over a Hong Kong exponent in the semifinal.It was her first individual triumph following her previous épée team gold in the same championship as well as the China Open and the Hong Kong Open Fencing championships in 2013.
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Sabah Fencing Association (SFA) President Datuk Alex Sham said they are very proud of their student who will be turning 20 next week and who has also just been accepted into the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in August."Her success is a testament of hard work and dedication. We have been grooming her since 2008 and during this period, she went through hardship after the untimely passing of her father Bobby back in 2009.
"And despite that, she managed to make it through all the obstacles and what she has achieved today, not just in sports but also in academic would have made her father really proud and also a motivation for other up and coming athletes."He said SFA has always emphasised on balancing the athletes' academics and sport so that they can achieve higher education.
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He added that apart from Lim, there are also others who have done very well in both fields."Good examples are her former gold winning team mates Laura Simons and Lisa Liew who are both doing well at the moment.
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"Laura who won the title in the same meet two years ago, is now studying at University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and is currently training in Paris, France in preparation for the Singapore SEA Games in June representing Malaysia while Lisa is taking her law degree in London, England.
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"The success stories of these trio showed that we have found the balance so that the athletes under us can juggle between their studies and training sessions."Alex also credited the success to their local coaches Bobby Chiew and Godwin Chong as well as the Youth and Sports Ministry for their supports through out the years.
