23rd African Fencing Championships: Akinyosoye stuns top seed as Brou bows out
On a day undoubtedly one of Nigeria’s hopes for a podium manufacture at the ongoing twenty third African Fencing Championship, Inkosi Brou, bowed out of the competition, his compatriot, Oluwafolayemi Akinyosoye, pulled off a major upset in the person males’s sabre match by defeating top seed and Olympic silver medallist, Fares Farjani of Tunisia in the preliminary round.
The 20-twelve months-frail Akinyosoye, who honest honest nowadays switched allegiance to Nigeria after representing England at cadet and junior ranges, edged Farjani 5-4 in a worrying bout that sent shockwaves by the competition and sparked ecstatic celebrations amongst Nigerian supporters.
His victory over the Paris 2024 silver medallist no longer only marked a private milestone nonetheless also secured his space in the knockout levels.
Akinyosoye carried his momentum into the round of 16, where he dispatched Algeria’s Lotfi Ibrihen with a commanding 15-9 take. On the different hand, his impressive flee came to an lead to the quarterfinals, where he fell 15-8 to sixth-seed Ahmed Ferjani of Tunisia. Despite the loss, Akinyosoye’s intriguing display cloak earned standard applause and signaled a promising future for the younger fencer on the continental stage.
But for Brou, a bronze medalist at the African Junior Championships and grandson of the leisurely NAFDAC Director-Standard, Prof. Dora Akunyili, the tip came in the quarterfinal, where he misplaced 15-11 to Niger Republic’s fifth seed Evann Girault.
Within the shock-crammed championship, defending champion, Fares Ferjani, also exited the competition early, shedding 15-13 to Egypt’s Adham Moataz in the round of 16. His defeat further opened up the field in the males’s sabre match.
Within the person females’s epee match, Nigeria’s Sarah Idongesit and Adebodunrin, two of the youngest competitors in the field, favorable from the personnel stage into the knockout rounds. Both fencers had been in the end eradicated in the round of 32 by more experienced opponents from Morocco and Algeria, nonetheless their progression highlighted the rising depth of Nigeria’s fencing talent.
The championships continue today, with motion in the person males’s foil and females’s sabre occasions.
