Tunisian Fares Ferjani won silver in the men’s individual sabre at the Paris 2024 Olympics, narrowly missing out on becoming Africa’s first gold medallist in the event.
The 27-year-old Ferjani was defeated 15-11 by South Korea’s Oh Sanguk in the final held at the Grand Palais in the French capital.
Ferjani, who was seeded 13th, staged an impressive performance by defeating world number one Ziad Elsissy of Egypt in the semi-finals.
However, he could not replicate the upset against Oh in the final bout. Born in Tunis and now based in New York, Ferjani improved significantly from his previous Olympic appearances, where he finished 22nd at Tokyo 2020 and 25th at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.
His best prior result on the senior world stage was an 8th-place finish at the World Championships in Wuxi, China, in 2018.
This silver medal marks a significant achievement for Tunisia, bringing the nation’s total Olympic medal count to 16, comprising five golds, four silvers, and seven bronzes since it first competed as an independent nation in Rome in 1960.
Notably, Tunisia has sent its smallest delegation to the Olympics in two decades, with only 26 athletes qualifying for Paris compared to the 63-strong team for Tokyo.
Meanwhile, there was further disappointment for top seed Elsissy, who lost the bronze medal match to Italy’s Luigi Samele, with the Italian securing a 15-12 victory.
The 29-year-old Elsissy will have another opportunity to medal when Egypt begins their team sabre campaign on Wednesday.
