SINGAPORE – When national fencer Amita Berthier received confirmation that she had qualified for the Paris Olympics in March, her former coach James Wong was one of the first few people she shared the news with. She knew that he had stayed up to hear from her.

After returning from the United States where she had Berthier also rushed straight from Changi Airport to the hospice to visit Wong, who had been battling late-stage cancer. She did not want to delay what could be a last meeting with her former mentor.