Egypt, Saudi Arabia Dominate Lagos Fencing World Cup
2 years ago 2 min read
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Egypt defeated Greece in the final of the team event of the Lagos Fencing World Cup, while Saudi Arabia won the bronze medal to end the competition on a high.
In the singles event, Egypt’s Shamel Youssef won gold, defeating Saudi Arabia’s Abed Hassan, while Egyptians Elsayed Mahmoud and Osama Eslam shared the bronze.
Host country Nigeria finished seventh in the team’s event, the highest-ranked Nigerian fencer in the singles event was Ige Olumuyiwa, who finished 27th after being dumped out in the round of 32 by Greece’s Theodoropoulos Panagiotis.
A total of 39 fencers from eight countries competing for medals and world rankings at the 2024 Men’s Junior Epee Fencing World Cup which was held at the Charterhouse Lagos,
The President of British Fencing, Pat Aiyenuro was impressed with the competition, while revealing that it has positioned Nigeria as a promising host for future events.
She said: “I am impressed. The venue is amazing; the organization and refereeing were impressive. We are privileged to have some of the top fencing nations here, including a world champion, which shows their confidence in Nigeria’s ability to host a top-tier competition.”
Adeyinka Samuel, the Nigeria Fencing Federation also highlighted the significance of hosting the tournament.
He said: “We are grateful to host such an event. It has been challenging, especially financially, but our fencers gave their all. We aim to host more competitions and improve our capacity through partnerships with Italian and British fencing. This will help us host bigger tournaments and promote fencing across Nigeria.”
Nigeria’s National champion, Okanlawon expressed his excitement for the opportunity to feature in the tournament.
He said: “I’m very excited and I am proud of Nigeria for being able to get the hosting right for this competition. What we can do to improve is to go for more competitions and keep facing these fencers. We also have to keep training and we will do better in subsequent outings.”
Nigeria is the first Sub-Saharan African country to host a fencing World Cup.
Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting.
The three disciplines of modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre, each discipline uses a different kind of blade, which shares the same name, and employs its own rules.
