The Tunisians have two lady fencers, the Besbes sisters, ranked in the top 7 in the World rankings of Ladies Epee and Sabre. They went on, as expected, to win gold in the Ladies Individual Epee and  Sabre .

South Africa’s Juliana Barrett, who is currently based in the USA, took bronze in the Ladies Individual Epee . This was an outstanding effort on her part and was to be the only medal that we achieved in the individual events.

Mention must be made of Sello Maduma (Tuks Fencing Club) and Jay New  (Cape Town) who both made it through to the last 8 in the Men’s Individual Epee and finished 5^th and 6^th respectively. This was an excellent achievement.

In the team evens, the SA Ladies Epee Team (including Daniela Klonarides of Tuks Fencing Club)  beat Egypt in a thrilling match to set up a match for the gold medal against Tunisia. They lost to Tunisia in a tough contest, but we are very happy with the silver medal that they brought home for South Africa.

The SA Men’s Epee Team (including Sello Maduma and Willem Dreyer of Tuks Fencing Club), South Africa beat Libya to set up a match with Egypt to get through to the final and a shot at the gold medal. SA lost this match and had to fence Senegal for the bronze which we won in a display of good fencing and team strategy.

SA eventually won 4 bronze and 1 silver medal. 

It should be mentioned that Dr. Wim Dreyer, lecturer at the University of Pretoria and Honorary President of Tuks Fencing, did a great job in coaching, motivating and strategising with the South African Teams.  Dr Dreyer previously coached the National Fencing Team at 6 World Championships.

Overall this was a great competition and South African fencing will benefit a lot from hosting this major event.