CAIRO: Egypt’s first medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics came on Sunday when fencer Mohamed El-Sayed scooped bronze in the Men’s Epee Individual event.
The 21-year-old took the prize following a hard-fought 8-7 win over Hungary’s Tibor Andrasfi.
He started his journey by beating Colombian fencer Jhon Rodríguez 15-7, before taking down Italy’s Santarelli 15-10 and then taking victory over Belgium’s Neisser Loyola 9-8 in the quarterfinal.
In the semi-final, El-Sayed lost to Frenchman and world number three Yannick Borel 15-9, before facing Andrasfi in the play-off.
This is Egypt’s second medal in fencing after Alaa Aboulkassem took silver at the London Olympics in 2012.
Egypt has sent its largest-ever team to Paris for this year’s Games, with its delegation numbering 149 competitors.