Tunisian Olympic hero Ines Boubakri says Arab fencers can now beat anyone

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In a sport previously dominated by Europeans, Arab fencers have risen through the ranks and established themselves among the world’s best over the past 12 years.

Egypt’s Alaaeldin Abouelkassem became the first athlete representing an African or Arab nation to win an Olympic medal in fencing when he took silver in men’s foil in London 2012.

Four years later, Tunisian Ines Boubakri made history as the first African or Arab woman to secure an Olympic fencing medal by securing bronze in women’s foil.

In the opening two days of the Paris Olympics, Arab fencers clinched two medals, with Tunisian Fares Ferjani leaping to silver in the sabre and Egyptian Mohamed Elsayed grabbing bronze in the epee.

There is currently at least one Arab man ranked in the world’s top four in each of the three weapons (sabre, foil, and epee).

Boubakri, who has now retired and is part of beIN Sports panel of experts for Paris 2024, believes this is no coincidence.

“As an Arab, I was super proud of Fares and Mohamed, not to show the people that we are capable, but to make the Arab world feel that we can do it, whatever the circumstances,” Boubakri told The National.

“We used to say that fencing is just for Europeans, but now, no, we made a change. We started the change with the medal of Alaa Abouelkassem in London 2012, and then in Rio with my medal.

“It was a surprise for everyone but for us, the athletes, we are working for many years, it’s not a surprise for us because we know inside of us, we believe in ourselves that we can do it.

“We will do it and we can do it. And the proof is that eight years later (from Alaa’s success), we are still here, Arab fencing is still here in Paris 2024, not only with one medal but with two medals.”

Boubakri, 35, is a four-time Olympian and has witnessed first-hand the evolution of world fencing.

“For sure fencing is improving and it has become a universal sport,” she explained.

“In the past we used to only see Europeans at the top, France, Italy, Romania, Hungary … now we have two Olympic champions from Hong Kong in fencing.

“So everyone can beat everyone and this is because many people changed their mentality and have an open mind now. Everyone can train with everyone, they are doing a lot of training camps all over the world.

“In the past, fencers from the same country trained by themselves, they didn’t accept to interact with the world. Now it changed. Now all the fencers know each other and we can see many surprises at the Olympics.”

One of those surprises was Ziad Elsissy’s fourth-place finish in the sabre. The Egyptian arrived in Paris ranked No 1 in the world and primed for a medal. He won three bouts before falling to Ferjani in the semi-finals and lost to Italian Luigi Samele in the bronze medal clash.

“Honestly, I feel so sad for Ziad because he deserves to have a medal at least. I think he has a lot of pressure, he’s No 1 in the world. I think Fares managed very well his bout because he was very calm, I was impressed by his maturity, he fenced very, very good all day. So he deserved his medal.

“But I feel sorry for Ziad, he was top of the world, everyone was waiting for him. But I think he didn’t control as well his stress, the pressure. But hopefully he’ll keep his motivation to look for LA 2028, he’s still young. We’re waiting for him for LA inshallah.”

Held at the iconic Grand Palais, fencing has taken centre stage in Paris and stole the show on several occasions, but perhaps no more than when news broke that Egyptian sabre fencer Nada Hafez beat the No 7 seed then lost in the second round all while being seven months pregnant.

“What she did is amazing, it’s brave of her,” beamed Boubakri.

“She is an example for all women, and also for the people who judge women. We can be pregnant and practise sport and practise a high level of competition, and nothing can stop us.

“Also if we speak about women in general, we have many women athletes who have given birth and come back to competition. In fencing, we had many examples, like Valentina Vezzali, Laura Flessel, they gave birth and after four months they came back to competition and won Olympic medals.

“And recently we have Arianna Errigo, she’s an Olympic champion. She stopped before the Olympics for one year. She kept training, we saw a lot of photos of her pregnant and training. She never gave up and came back four months after giving birth and she won a medal at the World Championship in Milan in 2023 and she qualified for the Olympics.

“She lost to a top-eight fencer 15-14 but she did a great job in Paris. It’s a big message for the world that as women, we are so strong.”

There are still two more days of fencing action in Paris, with Arabs once again in the mix. The Algerian women’s sabre team will take on France on Saturday and the Egyptian men’s foil team is scheduled to face USA on Sunday.