Top honours for Lim fencer Anokha
Some of Anokha van Manen's achievements include finishing fifth at the Commonwealth Fencing Championship, which was one of her best results in the South African junior and senior categories.
POLOKWANE – Seasoned fencer Anokha van Manen was recently named Limpopo Fencing Association’s fencer of the year.
Anokha is currently at the Utrecht University in Holland, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in physical science.
The 20-year-old fencer won a total of 20 medals, including 16 gold, three silver and one bronze during the last season.
Some of her outstanding achievements include finishing fifth at the Commonwealth Fencing Championship, which was one of her best results in the South African junior and senior categories.
She is also the first fencer in South Africa to win a grand slam of four gold medals in one national competition. She captained and anchored the South African teams at Commonwealth fencing events, taking her team to qualify last year.
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She finished her junior year as the number one ranked fencer in foil and epee. She remains the unbeaten champion in women’s foil. She ended the season ranked as number one in junior epee and foil, and number one in senior foil and second in senior epee.
She finished in 11th position at the recent Dutch Open in The Netherlands.
Renuka Ramroop, the chairperson of Limpopo Fencing Association, described Anokha as the association’s most outstanding fencer.
“She has brought glory to Limpopo with her incredible accolades and she is regarded as one of the best female fencers in the country.”
Sello Maduma of Sello Maduma Fencing Academy said they are proud to have a fencer of Anokha’s calibre in the academy.
“She has 72 medals in her arsenal from all the provincial and national competition she has participated in since she started fencing. On average, she has won four medals in epee and foil events for junior and senior women’s tournaments. She has been consistent in all her competition. She is coachable, she has a strong personality, self-driven and she is willing to do more. All the things that she has achieved are not by luck, she has worked hard for it.”
