Fares Arfa makes Canadian Olympic fencing history

Fares Arfa made Canadian Olympic fencing history on Saturday. By advancing to the quarterfinals of the men’s sabre event, he finished in eighth place. That is the best result ever by a Canadian male fencer in the history of the Olympic Games.

Arfa’s most notable upset came in his round of 32 win. That is when the 27th seed stunned the sixth seed, Aron Szilagyi of Hungary, 15-8. Even though Szilagyi is seeded sixth, he is one of the greatest fencers of all-time. At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, Szilagyi became the first Olympic fencer ever to win a gold medal at three consecutive Olympic Games as he also placed first at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Arfa then followed up his upset win over Szilagyi, with a 15-8 win over Bolade Apithy of France, the 11th seed. Apithy has won two silver medals in individual competitions at the European Fencing Championships.

Meanwhile in fencing action on Sunday, there was another Canadian upset in the women’s individual foil. Yunjia Zhang of Toronto, Ontario upset the seventh seed Qingyuan Chen of China in the second round by a score of 15-7. Zhang joins Eleanor Harvey of Hamilton, Ontario and Jessica Guo of Toronto as three Canadian women left in the women’s foil fencing draw.