‘Just getting started’: Juliana Gomez delivers UP’s lone fencing gold

MANILA, Philippines – There were no shortcuts for University of the Philippines fencer Juliana Gomez despite having famous parents. 

Gomez captured the UAAP individual epee gold after edging La Salle’s Cyrra  Vergara, 15-10, in the Season 85 women’s fencing final over the weekend. 

“2 years in the making… I’m just getting started,” Gomez posted in her Instagram account. “It’s a privilege to fight for UP.”

The 22-year-old Gomez is the daughter of Leyte Representative Richard Gomez, the former actor and national athlete who also won a fencing gold in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games. Her mother is Ormoc City Mayor and former model Lucy Torres-Gomez. 

“Hard work and understanding of the game has set in,” Richard said in a caption of an Instagram video of Juliana’s winning play. 

  

The young Gomez delivered the UP Fighting Maroons’ lone gold as the University of the East again dominated the sport with a 4-1-0 gold-silver-bronze medal tally in the men’s division and 4-1-4 haul in the women’s side.

The UST men’s (2-0-2) and women’s (1-2-3) teams checked in second, followed by the UP men’s (0-0-4) and women’s (1-1-3) squads.

Gomez, who’s taking up Bachelor of Science in Public Administration,  suited up for UP’s volleyball team in 2019. But she returned to fencing during the pandemic and became part of the varsity squad again.

Just three months before the UAAP action, Gomez also bagged a gold in the Air Force Open Fencing Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.

  

– Rappler.com