The Southeast Asian Fencing Federation (SEAFF) Championship will be back in Brunei from Dec 8-18.

In an interview yesterday national fencing coach Hj Zainoren Hj Mohd Yusof exclusively revealed to The Brunei Times that the Brunei Darussalam Fencing Federation has kept the decision to hold the regional meet under wraps for the past two months.

Brunei previously hosted the 7th SEAFF Championship in 2005 and the 9th SEAFF Championship in 2008. The 7th SEAFF Championship was supposed to be held in 2004 but was postponed to 2005 due to unforeseen circumstances.

Three categories will be contested during the 11-day tournament at the National Indoor Stadium at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas: Open, Junior and Cadet.

Though the country which holds the SEAFF presidency is obligated to host the meet during years when the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games are not held, this year's president Thailand (Amateur Fencing Association of Thailand) offered it to Brunei instead and the Sultanate accepted.

Hj Zainoren said that so far eight countries have confirmed their participation: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and hosts Brunei.

"We are still waiting for Laos and Myanmar ... Hopefully they can come," said the coach.

"As for Timor Leste, they don't have a fencing association yet," added Hj Zainoren, who holds a Diploma in Sports Science with sports specialisation in fencing from Semmelweis University in Budapest.

Hj Zainoren is in charge of training the fencers in the epee and foil disciplines while Indonesian Rocky Poerawinata is training the sabre team.

Hj Zainoren insisted that the timing of the tournament would not conflict with the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. The Games in China will take place from Nov 12-27, giving fencers enough time to recuperate ahead of the SEAFF Championship in Brunei.

Though Laos was supposed to hold the event last year as host of the SEA Games, fencing was not among the 28 sports offered.

Courtesy from Brunei Times