SINGAPORE — Three days after Lau Ywen made history by becoming the first Singaporean to win a world fencing title, the teenager is back on the piste, keen to see how far she can go in her shot at another world crown.

The newly minted individual sabre cadet (Under-17) world champion will compete in the junior (Under-20) category today at the Cadet and Junior World Fencing Championships in Bourges, France.

“Ever since I won the cadet world title, support and words of encouragement from people back home and from other countries (here at the tournament) have been pouring in. I feel very heartened,” said Ywen, 16, yesterday.

But entering the competition as a world champion, Ywen has played down her chances of winning her second world title in three days.

“The junior competition is on an immensely different level. Two more years of fencing by the older fencers, for example, can make a big difference in their skills,” she said. “Hence, there is no pressure on me to achieve anything in the junior category. I am just hoping to do my best.”

While her talent and work rate have been key to her remarkable rise, the double bronze medallist (individual and team sabre) at last year’s South-east Asian Games said the contribution from her club coach, David Chan of Asgard Fencing Club, has been invaluable.

Chan’s involvement with the national fencing team came as part of Fencing Singapore’s national partner coaches programme, which allows each national fencer to have his or her club coach work with the national coach of the respective fencing disciplines during national team training.

Since Ywen joined the national team in 2012, she went under the wings of national sabre coach Andras Decsi until last September, when the Hungarian left his post.

Following the launch of the national partner coaches programme in December, Chan was brought into the national team set-up, ensuring Ywen’s progress was not affected despite the absence of a national coach.

“Every coach has his or her own style of coaching, so bringing the club coaches and national coaches together is very beneficial for fencers,” said Ywen. “It also helps ensure that there was no disruption to my training (when Decsi left).”

Fencing Singapore vice-president Yau Wee Sian said Ywen’s world title is testament that this change in coaching structure was the right move. “David’s partnership with Ywen started since she was 11. We realised that many of our national fencers have their own club coaches whoalready understand them well,” he said.

“Fencing Singapore has over 100 national fencers, and having just three national head coaches from three fencing disciplines is not enough. With the national partner coaches programme, we were able to add so much breadth and depth to our coaching, as we now have an additional 15 partner coaches.

“Our fencers have done very well on the international stage over the past two years. With this, I think we can achieve even more historic results.”