President of the Nigeria Fencing Federation, Adeyinka Samuel, has tipped at least two of the country’s fastest-rising fencers in the world to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Nigeria has never presented an athlete in the fencing event at the Olympics since the country’s debut in Helsinki in 1952.
Buoyed by the recent strides of the federation which includes hosting several international competitions since 2022, Samuel, who is a former fencer for Nigeria, noted that Nigeria’s potential in the multi-weapon sport can be showcased globally at the sports fiesta.
Some of the fencers Samuel referenced include 16-year-old Inkosi Ibrou, who recently became the first Nigerian to be selected for the prestigious All-American Fencing First Team, an elite group comprising top college fencers from across the United States, national champion Somto Eribenne as well as two recent graduates of the federation’s school scholarship programme Okanlawon Wisdom and Sobayo Temilade.
“We have four athletes that are doing well in terms of global recognition. One of them is Inkosi Ibrou, who was at the Olympic qualifiers. At the African Championships, he fenced against the top guys who eventually won medals at the Olympics and they barely beat him. His record is incredible and currently ranked 37th in the world,” Samuel said.
“We also have a lady called Somto, 16-year-old as well and ranked 67th in the world. She reached the semi-finals in the Olympic qualifiers.
“For Temilade and Wisdom, these two students graduated with excellent results from our secondary school scholarship programme and we made sure that they fence and they train very hard. Both competed at the African Championships in 2022 where we finished third with 12 medals in total. They won four medals between themselves (two gold, one silver and one bronze).
“We are very certain that we are going to have at least two in the Olympics in 2028. We have never had an athlete representing the country at the Olympics before.
“We are pushing everybody, including those that I didn’t mention but at least two of our fencers can secure the Olympics spots in 2028.”
Despite its low popularity in Nigeria, Samuel also noted the status of the country as the top fencing nation in Sub-Saharan Africa, preparing to host the male U-21 Epee weapon World Cup in December and the 2026 Fencing Commonwealth Games in 2026.
“Since 2018, we have hosted three international tournaments. Two African championships and one world tournament and as a result, we are the leading Sub-Saharan African country to host tournaments.
“If you look at Egypt and Tunisia, they have gone higher than being the best fencing countries in Africa to compete with the rest of the world. When we compare ourselves with these two countries, we see how far we’ve come.
“It will be a great achievement for us and for Africa to host the Fencing Commonwealth Games because all other countries on the continent agreed to step down for Nigerian to go forward.”
According to the president, the federation will also intensify its efforts in training more coaches and officials to complement the growth of the athletes.
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