By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria’s women’s epee team celebrated a historic milestone at the 23rd
African Fencing Championships, securing their first-ever win in the
competition to finish in the top five.
The five-day tournament, hosted at Charterhouse, Lagos, concluded with Egypt emerging as the overall champion, amassing the highest number of gold medals.
After a quarter-final loss to Algeria, the Nigerian team—comprising
Somtochukwu Eribenne, Sara Idongesit, and Adebodunirin Thomas—rallied to end their campaign on a high. In the classification match for fifth place, they displayed resilience and teamwork to defeat the Benin
Republic 45-40, giving the home crowd something to cheer about.
Pharaohs’ Rule
Egypt continued its dominance in the men’s team foil, defeating Angola
in a one-sided final.
The Egyptian team—featuring 2025 men’s foil champion Abdelrahman Tolba, Karim Medhat, Mohamed Hamza, and Sief Elghayesh—cruised past Nigeria 45-9 in the semifinals before overpowering Angola 45-23 in the final.
Angola, led by Tomas Pedro, Valter Barros, Francisco Manuel, and Luis
Macedo, earned their place in the final after a dramatic 45-44 win over
Algeria in the semifinal. Despite a strong start by Algeria, Angola
mounted a spirited comeback to secure a narrow victory and their first
podium finish.
More For Egypt
In the women’s team epee final, Egypt was awarded the gold medal after
the match against Algeria was halted at 6-6. Algeria refused to
continue, resulting in a P. Black decision in Egypt’s favour.
Egypt also triumphed in the women’s team sabre, where Alanoud Hegazy, Nada Hafez, Nagwa Nofal, and Renad Eldoksh led the team to a 45-40 victory over Algeria, adding another gold to their tally.
Final Medal Standings
Egypt topped the overall medal table with an impressive haul of 11 gold,
5 silver, and 5 bronze medals.
Kenya followed in second place with one gold, while Tunisia secured third with two silver and two bronze medals.
Algeria finished fourth with one silver and six bronze medals.
Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa each claimed one silver and one bronze, while Angola earned one silver. Morocco, Cape Verde, and Senegal each took home one bronze medal.
The five-day, 12-event tournament, hosted by the Nigeria Fencing
Federation at Charterhouse, Lagos, featured over 120 fencers from 18
countries.
