Libya’s national fencing team on Sunday withdrew from the World Cadets and Juniors Fencing Championships to avoid competing against Israel, according to the Libyan News Agency. Libya had made it to the final round of the competition, which is being held in Dubai. Coach Serajeddin Etajouri applauded his team for their “outstanding performance” but said, “The reason [for pulling out] was our defiance against the Zionist entity,” a reference to Israel. Etajouri boasted that the move came “despite our technical superiority over them and our confidence in beating them, but the Palestinian cause is our cause and the cause of all Arabs and Muslims.”
In the competition, the Israeli women’s junior épée team took gold. It had been ranked 11th when it entered the competition. Poland and the United States won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in that competition.
Israeli fencers Nicole Feygin and Alon Sarid won silver medals in the women’s junior épée individual and men’s cadet épée competitions, respectively, putting Israel in fourth place on the overall medal table, after the United States, Italy, and Germany. Other MENA countries on the medal table include Egypt, ranked eighth, and Turkey, ranked ninth in a three-way tie with Hong Kong and Uzbekistan.