The three-day Fencing World Cup will be held from 25 to 27 February at the Cairo Stadium Indoor Complex. According to President of the Egyptian Fencing Federation Abdel-Moneim Al-Husseini, 175 players, representing 22 teams from 33 countries, are taking part in the event.
Al-Husseini said the competition will see top ranked fencers participating in the individual and team events. He added that all the teams would have arrived in Egypt by 24 February maximum where they would be tested for Covid-19 through a rapid test before the launching of the competition.
Al-Husseini said the Egyptians are seeded seventh in the world ranking at the team level and that Alaa Abul-Kassem and Mohamed Hamza are among the top 10 players.
The Egyptian sabre team kept up its winning streak by winning the gold medal in the World Cup held in Belgrade, Serbia, on 6 and 7 February. Egypt beat Switzerland 45-38 in the final.
Egypt’s route to the final was simply brilliant as they beat Germany 44-43 in their first game in the round of 16, before defeating the Italian team 54-39 in the quarter-finals. The semi-finals saw Egypt overpowering the US 43-42 to book a precious berth in the final.
The team was comprised of Amr Abdel-Kawi, Mohamed Al-Sayed and Mahmoud Yassin.
Apart from the Men’s World Cup, the Egyptian Fencing Federation has also proven they are moving in the right direction to develop and promote the sport in the younger age groups. Last month, the Under-17 team won two bronze medals in the European Union Fencing Championship which was held in Bucharest, Romania, from 28 to 31 January. The two medals came in both the individual and team events, which saw the participation of 215 players from around the world.
The individual bronze medal was claimed by Ahmed Hisham who managed to win all his matches from the group stage to the semi-finals against the players of Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine and Italy, whereas team Egypt, composed of Fares Al-Boghdadi, Ahmed Hisham, Yassin Khodeir and Ali Dewidar, had claimed their bronze by beating Hungary, Ukraine, France and Turkey.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhi is continuing his support for the Egyptian Fencing Federation as the World Cup is about to kick-off. Sobhi has been following up the preparations for hosting the big event by providing all necessary facilities needed to ensure delivering a spectacular event for the participating teams.
During his regular meetings with the federation’s officials, Sobhi has been praising the federation for its “outstanding achievements and efforts in elevating the sport to join the elites of other sports and to eventually become among the world’s top ranked countries in fencing in both seniors and juniors”.
Sobhi said that fencing was at present one sport that Egypt was relying on to win medals in the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 “which is why the ministry has been helping the federation with funds and the technical aid required for the building up of fencers” and for carrying out the training plans that would enable them to reach the podium in Paris.
On Wednesday, the federation held a press conference to share with reporters news about the final preparations being made to host the World Cup.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 24 February, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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