Tunisia’s Fares Ferjani missed out on becoming Africa’s first gold medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympics after losing in the men’s individual sabre final.
The 27-year-old had to settle for silver after being defeated 15-11 by South Korea’s Oh Sanguk at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Ferjani, who was seeded 13th, had beaten world number one Ziad Elsissy in the semi-finals but couldn’t pull off another upset against Oh.
Born in Tunis and now based in New York, Ferjani had finished 22nd at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and 25th at the Rio 2016 Games. His best previous result in individual sabre was an 8th place at the World Championships in Wuxi, China, in 2018.
Ferjani’s silver medal brings Tunisia’s total Olympic medals to 16 (five golds, four silvers, and seven bronzes) since it first competed as an independent nation in 1960.
Tunisia sent its smallest Olympic team in two decades to Paris, with 26 athletes compared to 63 in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Ziad Elsissy, the top seed, lost the bronze medal match to Luigi Samele of Italy, who won 15-12. Elsissy will have another chance to win a medal when Egypt starts their team sabre competition on Wednesday.
Earlier on Saturday, South Africa won its first medal at the Paris 2024 Games, taking bronze in men’s rugby sevens.
The Blitzboks beat Australia 26-19, with a last-minute try from Shaun Williams securing the win after Australia’s Nick Malouf was sent off. South Africa had lost 19-5 to France in the semi-finals, with France going on to win gold against Fiji.
The Blitzboks, who also won bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics, were the last team to qualify for Paris 2024 after winning a repechage in Monaco.
Forward Ryan Oosthuizen said they had to fight for South Africa and were proud of their achievement.
South Africa’s women’s rugby sevens team starts their campaign on Sunday with matches against Australia and Ireland.
For more details, you can check the BBC source.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/articles/c4ngj5wklz3o