Nigeria Celebrates Historic Win As Egypt Dominates African Fencing Championships

Nigeria Celebrates Historic Win As Egypt Dominates African Fencing Championships

Sampson Adedeji

Nigeria’s women’s epee team made history at the 23rd African Fencing Championships, securing their first-ever victory in the competition to finish in the top five, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

The five-day tournament, held at Charterhouse, Lagos, concluded on Sunday with Egypt once again asserting its dominance by claiming the highest number of gold medals.

Despite an early exit in the quarter-finals following a loss to Algeria, the Nigerian trio of Somtochukwu Eribenne, Sara Idongesit, and Adebodunirin Thomas bounced back in style.

They displayed remarkable determination and teamwork to edge the Benin Republic 45-40 in the classification match for fifth place, much to the delight of the home fans.

Egypt extended their supremacy in the men’s team foil event, where they overpowered Angola in a one-sided final.

The Egyptian team, featuring 2025 men’s foil champion Abdelrahman Tolba, along with Karim Medhat, Mohamed Hamza, and Sief Elghayesh, brushed aside Nigeria 45-9 in the semi-finals before comfortably defeating Angola 45-23 in the final.

In the women’s team epee final, Egypt was awarded the gold medal under controversial circumstances.

The match against Algeria was tied 6-6 when Algeria refused to continue, prompting officials to issue a penalty decision in Egypt's favour.

Egypt topped the overall medal standings with an impressive tally of 11 gold, five silver, and five bronze medals.

Kenya finished second with one gold, while Tunisia placed third with two silver and two bronze medals.

Algeria came fourth, collecting one silver and six bronze medals. Ivory Coast and South Africa each secured one silver and one bronze, while Angola earned one silver.

Morocco, Cape Verde, and Senegal also made the podium with one bronze medal apiece.

The championship, organised by the Nigeria Fencing Federation, featured 12 events over five days and attracted over 120 fencers from 18 countries across the continent.