Wayne State University Athletics

Fencing alum Ziad Elsissy represented Egypt at the Tokyo Olympics.

Men's Fencing 7/28/2021 3:12:00 PM Jeff Weiss, Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Media Relations

Fencing Alum Ziad Elsissy Competed in Individual and Team Sabre Competition at Olympics

TOKYO -- Wayne State University fencing alum Ziad Elsissy competed in both the individual and team competition sabre events the last few days at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In the individual portion of the competition, Elsissy was seeded 24th but upended ninth-seeded Veniamin Reshetnikov of the Russian Olympic Committee 15-13 in the round of 32. Elsissy trailed 3-1 but won five of the next six points to lead 6-4. He held an 8-6 advantage after the first period. After back-to-back points by Reshetnikov tied the bout at 8-8, Elsissy won the next three points for an 11-8 margin. Reshetnikov responded by winning four of the next five points to even the match at 12-12. Reshetnikov took a 13-12 lead, before Elsissy rallied to win the next three points for the 15-13 victory.

In the round of 16, Elsissy had to face eighth-seeded Sandro Bazadze of Georgia. Ziad won the first three points of the bout, but the match was at 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5, before Bazadze won three consecutive points for an 8-5 lead after the first period. Elsissy began the second period by winning three of five points to pull within 10-8. After falling behind 12-8, Elsissy won four straight points to knot the bout at 12-12. Bazadze won the final three points for a 15-12 triumph. Bazadze upset top-seeded Sanguk Oh of the Republic of Korea in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals.

The team captain for Egypt, Elsissy led his country to a 45-32 victory over Japan in the round of 16. Egypt was seeded eighth and Japan ninth. Elsissy posted victories over Tomohiro Shimamura (5-0), Kento Yoshida (5-2) and Kaito Streets (5-1) in the triumph over the host country. In the quarterfinals, Egypt had to face top-seeded Republic of Korea, who would later win the Gold Medal match. Elsissy dropped three close bouts - 5-2 vs. Junghwan Kim, 5-4 against Bongil Gu, and 5-4 vs. Sanguk Oh.

In the 5-8 bracket semifinals, Egypt defeated the Russian Olympic Committee 45-41. Elsissy began the competition with a 5-4 triumph over Reshetnikov, followed by a 5-2 win over Dmitriy Danilenko. He closed out the Egyptian victory with a 6-1 triumph over Kamil Ibragimov.

Egypt posted a 45-24 win over the Islamic Republic of Iran in the 5-6 Placement. Ziad recorded a 5-1 win over Mohammad Fotouhi, then finished the second round with a 5-0 blanking of Mohammad Rahbari. Elsissy completed his Olympic debut with a 5-4 win over Ali Pakdaman.

Combining both the individual and team competition, Elsissy garnered a 10-4 record and outscored his opponents 83-58 (+25) in touches.

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