Maxine Esteban has finished with a bronze medal in the Italian National Opens Qualifier in Bergamo. She is aiming to qualify for the Paris Olympics. The Filipino-Ivorian fencer swept her poule, winning all six matches there before stringing up four more wins to reach the semifinals, where her run finally ended. Esteban, the highest-ranked Filipino-born fencer right now at No. 39, finished third out of 128 fencers.

Esteban has had other solid finishes since October, having competed in three FIE (International Fencing Federation) Senior Satellite World Cups and two European National Opens. She recently finished ninth out of 130 fencers in the French Opens in Antony, France. Esteban is using these top-flight competitions to prepare for her Olympic qualification run and to boost her world ranking.

She said, “Although these competitions do not count toward Olympic qualification, they are very strong competitions that really will help me prepare for all upcoming qualifiers.” In her other tournaments, Esteban finished 10th out of 78 fencers in Romania, 17th out of 98 competitors in Amsterdam and 29th out of 106 participants in Spain.

Esteban continues to be in the thick of things as far as qualifying for the Olympics for Ivory Coast, but said the “road is still long.”

—INQUIRER SPORTS STAFF INQ