UAE fencers dominate 11th NAS Sports Tournament to win seven medals

Hosts the UAE dominated the fencing competition at the 11th Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex winning seven medals.

Tunisia was second with two medals, and Saudi Arabia was third with one gold leaving Egypt and Estonia in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Led by Khalid Mubarak, who struck the only gold in the Senior Men’s Saber competition, the UAE finished the competition with three silver and three bronze apiece.

Contesting in a field of 13 fencers from various countries, Khalid Mubarak secured a narrow 15-13 win against countryman Khalifa Alebri to pocket the gold medal.

Hamad Al Maazmi beat Saudi Arabia’s Ahmad Alomran to take the bronze and complete the clean sweep for the UAE.

At the end of the four finals, Engineer Shaikh Salem Bin Sultan Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Chairman, of UAE and Arabic and Asian Fencing Federation was joined by Saeed Harib, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, Nasser Aman Al Rahma, Assistant Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council and Mahmoud Bassiony, Assistant Brand Manager of Pocari Sweat, in presenting the winners with medals.

Egypt’s Abdel Rehman Haffour topped the Senior Men’s Foil competition as he skipped past the UAE’s Faris Al Blooshi 15-8 in an engrossing final.

Tunisia’s Mohammed Ayoub Ferjani had to settle for bronze after getting the better of Hungary’s Daniel Robert Kiss in the fence-off for third place.

The Senior Men’s Epee competition attracted the biggest field of 28 fencers, and it was Saudi Arabia’s Faisal Abed who came through with top honours with a hard-fought 12-11 win against Estonia’s Sten Priinits in the final.

The UAE’s Khalifa Al Zarooni took the bronze with a win against Egypt’s Ahmed El Saghir in the third-place fence-off.

The competition was held in a format of direct elimination with the complete tableau of the top 16 allowed to fence their way to the final.