Malaysia’s Nur Qalesha binti Mohd Radzuan says fencing at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games without a coach beside her taught her to trust herself more.

The 16-year-old finished eighth in the women’s foil individual on 8 November, beating Bahrain’s Ritej Araoud 15-9 in the table of 16 before losing 15-6 to Egypt’s Sara Amr Hossny, who went on to win silver.

“Totally awesome. I feel so proud to be representing my country, Malaysia,” she told ToughASIA in an exclusive interview. “Other than that, I’m proud of myself for finishing in the T8. It feels like my hard work paid off.”

She admitted the morning of the competition was tough. “I felt nervous, nauseous even,” she said. She used breathing exercises to calm down and refocus.

Walking into the training area, she said, she felt intimidated because she was the only fencer without a coach and could not follow her usual routine before competing. She focused on her warm-up instead and, as she walked onto the piste, told herself to do her very best and enjoy the experience.

Nur Qalesha fenced five bouts in Pool 2. She lost 5-3 to Russia’s Uliana Belykh, who went on to win gold, 5-3 to Moldova’s Sanda Dubolari and 5-0 to Poland’s Danuta Tym, but beat Araoud 5-3 and New Zealand’s Bowie Wang 5-1. She was eighth of 12 in the pool ranking, and all 12 fencers went through to the knockout rounds.

That set up a second meeting with Araoud in the table of 16. Nur Qalesha said she did not change her strategy much.

“I think I just became more confident with my actions with her,” she said. “During the poule round, I hesitate quite a few times and I realised that it was stopping me from fencing my best. So, I decided to put my full confidence to it and do my best.”

The official results show Araoud received a yellow card and a red card in that bout. Nur Qalesha said the yellow card was given because her opponent started before the referee said “allez”.

In the table of 8, Nur Qalesha was level 4-4 with Amr Hossny before the Egyptian scored six hits in a row to lead 10-4.

“I think for the first few points, I was doing okay,” Nur Qalesha said. She described Amr Hossny as a Paris 2024 Olympian and “an experienced and amazing fencer”, adding that her opponent also had a coach next to her. “An extra pair of eyes goes a long way.”

She said Belykh had “a more classic style of fencing with strong attacks”, while Amr Hossny “was more aggressive with her attacks”, and that she had to adapt her timing and distance against both.

“I learnt to trust myself more because my coach wasn’t there beside me,” she said of her biggest lesson. She added that she wished she had competed in more World Cups to prepare, but only found out she was going to the Youth Olympic Games two and a half months before.

Balancing training with school has not been easy. “It is not easy at all to balance sports, studies and social life,” she said. “I struggled a lot balancing them at first but then I got the hang of it.” She thanked her tutors, friends and teammates for their support, with “special thanks to my tutors for always making time for me when I’m abroad!”

Next on her calendar is the Samorin World Cup in Slovakia, where she will compete in both the cadet and junior categories. “My main goal is to have more exposure,” she said.