The fencing competition at the 2015 African Games took place between 2 and 6 September 2015, in Brazzaville (Republic of Congo). To a large extent, fencing owes its inclusion in these Games to the political influence of the President of the African Fencing Confederation, Mr. Mbagnick Ndiaye, and to his leadership within the AASC (Association of African Sports Confederations), where he holds the position of vice-president.
14 nations, 108 athletes, all weapons together, participated in the different events, which took place inside a splendid, brand new sports palace of 10,000 places.
On the occasion of this competition, the International Fencing Federation supplied the Congolese Fencing Federation with 5 pistes and 5 complete scoring machines in order to guarantee a smooth technical and material course of the encounters. Despite all the problems faced ahead of these African Games, the high degree of solidarity and the concrete and efficient actions of the Technical Delegate, of the referees and of the members of the TD, along with the genuine collaboration of the President, Mr. Albert Kaya, and other members of the Congolese Fencing Federation made sure everything went well in the end. There were no big issues during the competition.
Regarding the result, there were no great surprises, Egypt (7 gold medals) and Tunisia (4 gold medals) dominated the charts. Algeria, South Africa, Mali, and Senegal also won medals, thus demonstrating the steady development of fencing in the African continent.
Faced with organisational difficulties, boxing had to postpone the start of its competition, and fencing was able to benefit of TV coverage provided by Sport five during two three-hour slots, in particular on Bein sport, an Al Jazeera affiliate. It was an excellent opportunity to promote our sport on the African continent.
All TD members, the Refereeing Delegate, the referees efficiently worked together, to the great satisfaction of the delegations and their athletes.
The next African Games will take place in 2019. The host country has not been designated yet.
AO Jie
Deputy Sport Director