ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Recent Wayne State University graduate Ziad Elsissy (Alexandria, Egypt) placed second at the 2018 USA Fencing Nationals and July Challenge on Saturday.
Elsissy, who entered the competition seeded 17th, won all six of his pool bouts and was +12 (30-18) in touches. He had three victories by a 5-2 score, and another three triumphs by a 5-4 margin to earn the seventh seed.
In the direct elimination portion of the event, Elsissy defeated Nathaniel Landau (15-11) and Jackson McBride (15-9) to advance to the round of 16.
He then edged Grant Williams (15-10) to reach the quarterfinals. Elsissy upended second seeded Filip Dolegiewicz (15-9) and then bested Peter Souders (15-12) in the semifinals.
Elsissy dropped a 15-12 bout to Daryl Homer, a Rio Olympic silver medalist, in the gold medal match.
According to the USA Fencing website:
Tied at six, Elsissy took control to gain an 8-6 lead at the break. Down 12-9, Homer found his rhythm, scoring the final six touches of the bout to win, 15-12.
"Ziad is a really tough competitor," Homer said. "He's a great athlete. He's a good friend, so I just knew I had to stay steady and I think at a certain point I'd run out of video replays, so I wanted to stay steady and control every action and make sure nothing could be looked at meticulously – make everything clear. So I'm really happy I was able to do that."
