Ghana was able to grab a bronze medal at the 2018 African Cadet Junior Fencing Championships held at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Indoor Sports Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.
The medal came in the Epee event where UK-based female cadet, Yasmine Fosu emerged third.
The President of the Ghana Fencing Association, Mohammed Mahadi said he was impressed with the output of the contingent although the team was affected by challenges they had in traveling to Nigeria by road for the March 1-5 Championships.
“I will say it went well for the team, we had one bronze medal and overall both male and female team placed fourth. What I will say is that the team was fatigued and poor equipment affected the team.
“We anticipated that we could arrive at least three days before the commencement of the competition but we arrived in Nigeria and the next day we had to go into the completion so it affected the team. Other teams arrived four days before the start of the competition so the motivation wasn’t the same,” he said.
Thirteen (13) countries namely; Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Tunisia and Nigeria featured in the point-earning tournament for the World Championship slated for April 1st to 4th in Verona, Italy.
And Ghana did enough to secure a place at the World Championship.
“All the same, they [Ghana junior fencers] have improved on their points and I’m impressed. I really appreciate the indomitable spirit that the team has shown at the tournament.
“Both male and female teams have qualified to the world competition in Verona Italy next month,” Mahadi also confirmed.
“We are putting our house in order to be able to camp them and start preparation so that the team does not go through the same problems they encounter in Nigeria,” he added.
The Ghana Fencing Association is appealing to corporate bodies to support the team make an impact at the World Championship and also for the Olympics Games coming up in year 2020.
According to President Mahadi, Ghana’s fencers are medal hopefuls.
Story by Sammy Heywood Okine