SINGAPORE – Barely a month after winning gold in the women’s individual foil at the South-East Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur, national fencer Amita Berthier has notched yet another milestone in her promising career: She has become the first Singaporean to break into the top-15 of the junior world rankings last week.

Thanks to her ninth-placed finish at the Eden Cup in London, the opening leg of the 2017-18 Junior World Cup (JWC) season, the 16-year-old has jumped seven rungs to 13th in the junior world rankings.

Before this, Lau Ywen, who also won a gold medal at the recent SEA Games, in the women’s sabre, was the highest-ever-ranked Singapore fencer, at No 19 at world junior level.

Amita was one of only four fencers to win all six of her poule (pool) matches at the Eden Cup, which featured 87 foilists from all over the world, including fencing powerhouses such as Italy, France, Russia and the United States.

She then beat France’s Clemence Vannereau 15-7 in the round of 64, and Elena Petrova of Russia 15-9 in the last 32 before narrowly losing 13-15 to American Zander Rhodes.

Based on the quality of her opponents, Amita ended up being ranked ninth, and received eight world junior ranking points.

Revealing that her target for the season was to break into the top-15, Amita told TODAY she was pleased to have achieved it so early on.

“It’s a really good start to the season, and I’m really happy that I managed to climb seven rankings into 13th, which means that I have already achieved the target I set for myself this season,” Amita, who is based in Boston, told TODAY.

“I had actually only hoped to reach the top 16 at the Eden Cup, but as I was fencing, I felt in good form and thought I actually stood a chance of reaching the top eight.

“But I’m not going to be disappointed that I didn’t go further. Yes, I think I could have done better, but it’s still a good result for me and I’m pleased with what I have accomplished.”

This latest result is just one of the many that Amita has achieved this year – apart from winning the SEA Games gold, the Spex Scholar had also secured a bronze at the World Cadet & Junior Fencing Championships in April, before she went on to win a fifth-placed medal at the USA Fencing National Championships in the women’s senior category three months later.

While pleased with her “eventful” year so far, Amita says she has already set herself the new target of breaking into the top 10 of the world junior rankings.

“It’s only my first year competing at the junior level, so I’m really focusing on my development at the moment,” said Amita, who trains at the Marx Fencing Academy in Boston, in the US.

“But I also want to climb up the ranks, and I have a bunch of other JWC events coming up. I haven’t set specific goals for each competition yet…I’m just going to push myself and see how far I can go.

“I’m definitely on the right track. I just need to continue to keep my head in the game, and keep focused. It’s always an honour to represent Singapore everywhere I go, and I hope to show that just because we’re a small country, it doesn’t mean we can’t achieve what other bigger countries can.”

Apart from Amita, six other Singaporean fencers – Kevin Chan, Darren Tan, Jonathan Au Eong, Jet Ng, Yeo Jing Zhe and Yau Han Xiang – also competed at the Eden Cup in the men’s foil event.

Chan, whose 12th-placed finish at the Eden Cup was the highest of the six, then went on to compete in a satellite competition – the Leon Paul Cup – where he finished a credible 18th in the senior men’s tournament.

The 19-year-old, who is a student at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Nanyang Technological University (NTU), told TODAY that this was his best-ever performance in both competitions since he started taking part in them five years ago.

“It’s a milestone for me because it’s the best I’ve done in either competition,” said Chan, whose previous best results were a top-32 and top-64 finish in the Eden Cup and Leon Paul Cup respectively.

“Previously, I was just entering these competitions for experience’s sake, but now, I treat it as a chance for me to also build my confidence.

“It’s difficult for me to travel overseas for competitions due to my studies, but that is essential if I want to go far in the sport because the level of fencing overseas is much higher than back home, so I have to make the best out of every trip.

“But doing well in both the two recent competitions tells me I’m doing the right things and am on the right path.

“It serves as motivation for me that I’m not far off from the international standards, and I hope to bring my game to another level in future competitions.”