Azza Besbes (; born 28 November 1990) is a Tunisian

sabre A sabre or saber ( ) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the Early Modern warfare, early modern and Napoleonic period, Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such a ...

fencer, five-time African champion. She took part in the

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and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, finishing 7th, 9th and 5th respectively.

Personal life

Besbes was born in a sports family: her father Ali is a former basketball player, who became a physical education teacher; her mother Hayet Ben Ghazi is a former

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

fencer, who became an international referee. Her parents settled in Abu Dhabi before she was born. They had all their children–daughters Azza, Sarra, Héla and Rym, son Ahmed Aziz–take up fencing. Sarra competed in the women's épée at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

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Career

Besbes took up fencing when she was six. She was first given a foil, but she found the weapon too quiet and switched to sabre under the coaching of Yan Nowara. When she was ten she joined the Tunis Air Club, where she trained until 2005, when the fencing section was closed for lack of funds. She went on training with the Tunisian national team for two years, then she moved to France. She joined first the Cercle d'Escrime in Orleans, then US Metro in Paris, both clubs specialized in sabre, under a scholarship from the Tunisian Ministry of Youth and Sports. She was invited to share training sessions with the French national team. The same year Besbes posted a top-8 finish at the Junior World Fencing Championships in Belek and she took a silver medal at the

2007 All-Africa Games The 9th All-Africa Games (; ), also known as Algiers 2007 (), took place from 11 to 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers became the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were a ...

in Algiers. Besbes qualified to the individual event of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

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as the top-ranked fencer of the African zone. She defeated South Africa's Jyoti Chetty, then France's Léonore Perrus, before meeting Canada's Olga Ovtchinnikova in the table of 16. The bout was marred by technical glitches: after Ovtchinnikova took a 9–5 lead, she struck a hit which did not register on the electrical apparatus and was finally denied. The incident occurred twice. After the problem was resolved, Besbes struck ten hits in a row to win the bout. At the age of 18 she became the first female African athlete to fence in an Olympic quarter-final. She took a 9–6 lead against US fencer and World No.1 Rebecca Ward, but Ward levelled, before taking the advantage on 14–12. Besbes rallied to 14-all at the end of fencing time. The last hit required a lengthy video review and was finally given to Ward, who won the bout. In the 2008–09 season Besbes posted a top-8 finish at the Ghent World Cup and earned the gold medal at the

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between Africa, African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports club, sports clubs. List of championships ;Athletics * African ...

in Dakar. The next year, she took a silver at the Africans in Tunis and reached the quarter-finals at the 2010 World Championships in Paris, before being stopped by Ukraine's Olena Khomrova. In the 2010–11 season she climbed her first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

with a bronze medal at the Bologna World Cup. She regained her African crown in Cairo and posted a last-16 finish at the World Championships in Catania. These results allowed her to close the season World No.8, a career best .Besbes qualified to the

as the top-ranked African fencer, this time with another Tunisian, Amira Ben Chaabane . Besbes defeated Hong Kong's Au Sin Ying in the first round, before losing out her next match to American fencer Dagmara Wozniak, with a score of 13–15. Besbes again qualified to the individual event of the

, and reached the quarterfinal. She was ultimately ranked 5th after losing 15–14 against the French fencer Manon Brunet. In 2017, she finished 2nd at the world championships in Leipzig in 2017, thus becoming the first Tunisian to become vice-world champion and the only one to have won a medal at the world championships in all three age categories. In 2018, Azza wins the gold medal at the Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain.

References

External links

NBC Olympics Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Besbes, Azza Tunisian female sabre fencers Living people Olympic fencers for Tunisia Fencers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Abu Dhabi 1990 births Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Tunisia Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Tunisia Fencers at the 2013 Mediterranean Games Fencers at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in fencing Competitors at the 2007 All-Africa Games African Games silver medalists for Tunisia African Games medalists in fencing 21st-century Tunisian sportswomen