With barely a week to the start of the 2022 Cadet and Junior Fencing Championship slated for Lagos, the African Fencing Confederation has approved a fencing academy for Nigeria.
The African championship which is expected to feature over 200 participants from no fewer than 10 ountries will now take place at Festival Hotel, Festac Town, Lagosfrom February 23-27. It was initially billed for the Teslim Balogun Stadium.
The Samray Fencing Academy which would become functional immediately after the African championship will help in accelerating the development of the sport in Nigeria.
According to the Confederation, the approval of the Samray Fencing academy is due to the huge potential Nigeria has to be among the leading forces in the sport in Africa.
Nigerian Fencing Federation boss Adeyinka Samuel expressed delight at the development declaring that the academy which is an independent state-of-the-art facility, will play a major role in grooming world-class fencers from Nigeria.
“There are various benefits attached as the academy is into partnerships with high ranking global schools across Europe, America and UAE who are keen to welcome to partner with talented Nigerian fencers,” he said.
He lauded the Lagos State Sports Commission, the Nigeria Olympic Committee, for their supports towards the championship and also expressed gratitude to the sponsors which include Interswitch, Stanbic IBTC, Levene Energy, Tap Tap Send, 2Sure, GB Foods, ALP Africa, FL Studio, Starsight Energy, Samray Group, Thrive Little Explorer and For the Future of Fencing (IChF)
