Defeats Hungarian National Team on Their Home Turf… Crowned World Cup Champions for the First Time in History

Written by: Al-Zahraa Rashad

Egypt’s sabre fencing team was crowned champion of the Fencing World Cup for teams, which was hosted in Budapest, Hungary, at the end of March. The Egyptian national team achieved this historic victory after defeating the Hungarian team—playing on home soil—in the final match with a score of 45–37. Egypt dominated the match from the very first round, where Ziad Elsissy prevailed 5–1.

This marks the first time Egypt has ever won a Fencing World Cup title. On their way to the final, the team eliminated South Korea, the Paris Olympics champion, and then the French team, which had secured the Olympic bronze medal. Representing Egypt in this tournament were: Ziad Elsissy, Mohamed Amer, Adham Moataz, and Mazen El-Arabi.

Ziad Elsissy is considered one of Egypt’s top fencers. He won the gold medal at the Grand Prix in Korea (May 2024), the gold medal at the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Algeria, and later took home a bronze at the World Cup in Algeria — the first-ever medal in Egyptian sabre fencing history. He also ranked first in the 2022–2023 African Championship in individual men’s sabre, won a bronze medal in the World Championship, and climbed to third place in the Olympic ranking and fourth in the global rankings. He also finished fourth in the individual sabre competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Previously, Ziad achieved a historic result with the Egyptian team by finishing fifth in the men’s team competition at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. The team crushed Iran 45–25 in the match for fifth place. Earlier, they had beaten Japan 45–32 in the round of 16, lost to South Korea 45–39 in the quarterfinals, then defeated the Russian Olympic Committee team 45–41 in the classification rounds for fifth to eighth places.

On another note, the Egyptian junior sabre team has also seen recent successes. In 2021, they won the silver medal at the World Championship in Cairo, before the Olympic qualifiers. Ahmed El-Sayed earned a bronze medal, marking Egypt’s first-ever individual podium finish at this level, among more than 300 players. Additionally, Mohamed El-Sayed shocked the world at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, defeating the world no.1 from France in the round of 32, then beating the Chinese champion in the round of 16, and reaching the quarterfinals — all before the age of 18. His breakthrough sparked major support from the Egyptian government, the fencing federation, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, who began to place high hopes on him. Mohamed proved himself, showing that anything is possible through scientific training, performance analysis, and flexible strategy.

After Tokyo, Egyptian fencers continued their historic run between 2021 and 2023. In December 2021, the junior epee team won the World Cup in Uzbekistan, both in individual and team events. Mohamed El-Sayed won gold in the individual event, and the team — Mohamed El-Sayed, Mahmoud El-Sayed, Mohamed Yassin, and Amr Khaled — secured the team title. This marked Egypt’s first-ever global medal in epee since Ayman Alaa won gold in 2008 (U17) and silver in 2010 (U20). Ayman Alaa was one of Egypt’s promising talents who earned great respect for his achievements. What sets the current national team apart is the depth and diversity of talent, no longer relying on a single star. Egypt is now ranked world no.1 in team competitions.

The year 2022 was a landmark year for Egyptian fencing, filled with major achievements. The sabre team won individual gold (Mohamed Yassin) and team gold at the World Cup in Bahrain. They also won team gold at the World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia (Mohamed El-Sayed, Mahmoud El-Sayed, Mohamed Yassin, Amr Khaled). Mohamed El-Sayed also won gold at the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Oran, the first ever in Egyptian fencing history (following a silver 12 years ago by Ahmed Nabil). Mohamed Yassin took silver in the individual world championship in Dubai, and the Egyptian team won gold in the team event (El-Sayed, Yassin, Mahmoud El-Sayed, Mohamed Gaber). Youssef Shamel added two bronze medals at the African Youth Championship in Ghana and a World Cup bronze in Uzbekistan (2022). The same year saw additional medals from Amr Khaled and Mohamed Gaber in both the Serbia World Cup and Dubai World Team Championship. Winning medals in both individual and team world events is a rare and remarkable feat, putting Egypt at the forefront globally.

In 2023, this momentum continued. Egypt won double gold (individual and team) at the Junior World Cup in Udine, Italy — with El-Sayed winning individual gold and the team (El-Sayed, Yassin, Mahmoud El-Sayed, Shamel) taking team gold. They repeated this success at the 2023 Junior World Championships in Bulgaria and the World Cup in Georgia, where Mohamed Yassin won individual silver.

During this Olympic cycle, Egypt’s senior men’s team delivered unprecedented performances in World Cup events, beating France in 2021 and Italy in 2022. On the junior side, Mohamed El-Sayed was named Best Player in the World for the 2023 season, maintaining his top world ranking. He received the award at the FIE Congress in Sharm El-Sheikh in December 2023.

Finally, Mohamed El-Sayed secured Egypt’s first medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, winning the bronze in epee fencing after defeating Hungary’s Tibor Andrasfi, ranked 16th globally, with a score of 8–7.

It’s worth noting that Mohamed’s journey in fencing began at age six under the guidance of his father, Coach El-Sayed Sami, who is himself a fencing coach. Mohamed has gone on to achieve numerous milestones, including fourth place at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Argentina, gold at the 2023 U20 World Cup in Italy, and bronze at the Grand Prix in Colombia. He also led Egypt to first place at the African Championships in the team epee competition.