Tunisian Fares Ferjani secures the first medal for Arabs at the Paris Olympics

Tunisian Fares Ferjani secured at least a silver medal in the Al Houssam fencing competition, after reaching the final on Saturday at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

He will meet in the gold match with the South Korean, Sanguk Oh, who is ranked third and won over the Italian, Luigi Samelli, 15-5.

In the Grand Palais Hall, Ferjani (27 years old), seeded thirteenth, prevailed in the semi-finals over first seeded Egyptian Ziad El-Sisi (29 years old) 15-11, who later lost the bronze medal match to Samili 12-15. .

Ferjani comes from a family all involved in fencing. His brother, Mohamed Ayoub, participated in the epee in Rio 2016, and his other brother, Ahmed, competed in the shotgun category in several world cups, while his father, Salah, was an international fencing referee. His mother, uncles, and cousins also participated in sports competitions at various levels.

Regarding the reason why he loves fencing, Ferjani, a licensed referee in the United States, says, “Why do I love fencing? My whole family is in fencing. It is like water to me.”

He finished 25th in the 2016 Rio Olympics and 22nd in Tokyo in the summer of 2021.

Ferjani took a 3-0 lead, then Sisi reduced the gap to 1-3. After trailing 1-4, Sisi tried to adjust his tactic, but the Tunisian maintained the three-point difference (5-2). Ferjani resorted to defense (6-2), and forced Sisi to advance further to reduce the gap (3-6).

But Ferjani maintained his calm and led 8-3, then 10-4. The scenario continued with an Egyptian attack and snatching points from Ferjani, who came close to deciding the match 13-5.

The task became almost impossible for Sisi, who trailed 5-14. He snatched six consecutive points, reducing the difference to 11-14, but the Tunisian won the match 15-11 and reached the final.

Ferjani, who resides in New York, defeated South Korea's Bongil Goo 15-8, Hungary's Chanad Gimshi 15-14, and China's Chenpeng Shen 15-14, narrowing the difference from 11-14 in a confrontation that he considered "the most difficult in my life."

In turn, Al-Sisi won his third World Championship in 2023 and his fifth Tokyo Olympics in the team championship, in the round of 32, over Argentine Pascual Maria de Tea 15-11, then American Mitchell Sharon 15-13 in the round of 16, and German Matthias Sabo 15-14 in the quarter-finals.

Sisi, who was born in Alexandria, also resides in the United States and is married to Nourhan Gohar, who is ranked second in the world in squash. She was in the audience and cried after his victories in the first rounds, while the Egyptian audience chanted, “Zizou, Zizou.”

The mechanical engineer began his career in basketball, like his father, Ali, the former international, but his mother encouraged him to practice individual sports. His role model is Aladdin Abu Al-Qasim, the silver medalist in the 2012 Olympics.

Hungarian Aaron Szilagyi (34 years old), who holds the last three gold medals, was eliminated in the round of 32. “I am in a state of shock now, and I am not even disappointed or angry with myself yet.”

(AFP)