Northwest Wayne News

Former Wayne State University fencer Ziad Elsissy and current student-athlete Mahmoud Elsayed represented Egypt at the 2025 Fencing World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia. The event took place over nine days at the Sports Palace.

Mahmoud Elsayed entered the championships following his gold medal win at the Junior Men's Epee World Championships earlier this year. In Tbilisi, he started strong by going undefeated in pool play with a 6-0 record, including two 5-0 victories and a +18 touch differential (27-9). This performance earned him the No. 19 seed for the direct-elimination stage.

In elimination rounds, Elsayed secured a 15-13 win against Xinkun Zhang of China and then defeated Denmark's Conrad Seibaek Kongstad 15-11. His run ended in the Table of 16 with a loss to Hungary's Gergely Siklosi, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the world and finished as runner-up.

Elsayed also competed in the team event for Egypt, contributing three bout victories (5-0, 5-4, 5-1) during their win over Saudi Arabia. The Egyptian team placed tenth after falling to Switzerland in a close match.

Ziad Elsissy, who was inducted into Wayne State's Hall of Fame, was seeded twelfth and bypassed pool play to advance directly to elimination rounds. He opened with a victory over Bakdaulet Kuralbekuly (15-8), followed by wins against Frederic Kindler (15-13) and Szymon Hryciuk (15-12). Elsissy reached the quarterfinals but lost to Sandro Bazadze of Georgia, who is ranked second globally and won the championship.

Elsissy also participated in Egypt's sabre team competition. He helped secure two bout wins against Mexico before Egypt narrowly lost to China by one point in their next match. Both Egyptian teams finished tenth overall.

After these results, Mahmoud Elsayed now holds seventeenth place in Senior Men's Epee world rankings while Ziad Elsissy stands fifteenth among Senior Men's Sabre competitors.

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