Azza Besbes

Azza Besbes (Arabic: عزة بسباس‎; born 28 November 1990) is a Tunisian sabre fencer,[1] five-time African champion. She took part in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing 7th, 9th and 5th respectively.[2]

Azza Besbes
Besbes in 2014
Personal information
Nickname(s)	Zazza
Born	(1990-11-28) 28 November 1990 Tunisia
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb)
Sport
Sport	Fencing
Weapon	sabre
Hand	right-handed
National coach	Emil Oancea
Club	US Metro Paris (FRA)[1]
Head coach	Hervé Bidard
FIE ranking	current ranking
Medal record World Championships 2017 Leipzig Individual Mediterranean Games 2018 Tarragona Individual 2013 Mersin Individual African Championships 2009 Dakar Individual 2011 Cairo Individual 2012 Casablanca Individual 2013 Cape Town Individual 2014 Cairo Individual 2015 Cairo Individual 2016 Algiers Individual 2010 Tunis Individual

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 fencer, who became an international referee.[3] 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 in London,[1] while Héla is also a sabreur, member of the Tunisian national team.

Career

Besbes (L) fences France's Alizée Jammes in 2013

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 Haythem Habbege and Hassen Zouari.[4] 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.[4] 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.[4] 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 in Algiers.

Besbes qualified to the individual event of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing 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.[5]

At the age of 18 she became the first female African athlete to fence in an Olympic quarter-final.[6] 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.[7][8] Besbes incriminated a lack of support from the Tunisian Fencing Federation, which did not allow her to prepare correctly for an event of this magnitude.[4]

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 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 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 as of 2015.

Besbes qualified to the 2012 Summer Olympics 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.[9][10]

Besbes again qualified to the individual event of the 2016 Summer Olympics, and reached the quarterfinal. She was ultimately ranked 5th.

In April 2018, in a phone call with the Tunisian TV channel "Elhiwar ettounssi", Azza announced the end of her career. The reason was because the Tunisian minister of sports "Majdouline Cherni" (who was busy with the local elections) refused to take Azza's calls in order to force Azza to accept the contract offered my the government despite Azza multiple warnings of multiple legal breaches in the contract. Azza described The Tunisian minister "Majdouline Cherni" as the worst sports minister she has ever dealt with during her tenure.

References

1. "Azza Besbes". London 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Azza Besbes". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
3. Frida Dahmani (30 July 2012). "Les quatre filles du professeur Besbes". Jeune Afrique (in French).
4. Chaker Belhadj (1 December 2009). "Azza Besbès (Escrime) : " Le podium à Pescara et la finale aux Mondiaux 2009 "". Le Quotidien (in French).
5. Duff, Bob (10 August 2008). "Canadian fencer's dream foiled by computer error". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
6. Ioan Pop (2008). "Beijing's lessons: Olympic and authentic fencing". Escrime Internationale (64): 19.
7. "Women's Individual Sabre – Quarterfinal 4". NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 2012-08-20. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
8. Goe, Ken (8 August 2008). "Rebecca Ward and Mariel Zagunis make the Olympic semifinals in women's saber; they face each other next". The Oregonian. Oregon Live. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
9. "Women's Individual Sabre Round of 16". London 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
10. D'Alessandro, Dave (1 August 2012). "London Olympics: Dagmara Wozniak's stab just misses mark". Star-Ledger. NJ.com. Retrieved 10 January 2013.

External links

• NBC Olympics Profile