Azza Besbes
| Azza Besbes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Besbes in March 2013
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Zazza | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
28 November 1990 Tunisia |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weapon(s) | sabre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hand | right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 62 kg (137 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National coach(es) | Emil Oancea | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | US Metro Paris (FRA) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach(es) | Hervé Bidard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIE Ranking | current ranking | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Medal record
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Azza Besbes (Arabic: عزة بسباس; born November 28, 1990) is a Tunisian sabre fencer, five-time African champion. She took part in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing 7th, 9th and 5th respectively.
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 champion, who became an international referee. 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, while Héla is also a sabreur, member of the Tunisian national team.
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. 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. Shen 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. 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.
...
Wikipedia