Nigeria’s fencing national team’s coach, Ibrahim Alogba is seeking the emergence of home-grown talent to represent the country in major competitions across Africa and world at large, but noted that the current crop are doing pretty well.
Sports247 reports that Alogba made the declaration while acknowledging that great expectations are once again hinging on Nigeria’s top-ranked fencer, Inkosi Brou, to excel at this year’s African Senior Fencing Championship in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
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Brou, who won Nigeria’s first international fencing medal with a silver at the 2024 World Tournoi Satellite Cup in Iceland, is heading for his second appearance at the continental championship, which is scheduled to take place from May 31st to June 6th.
The 18-year-old Brou will head Nigeria’s team that also has Phoenix Zaoku Olen and 21-year-old Oluwafolayemi Akinyosoye, who was the country’s best performer at the 2025 edition of this competition in Lagos, where he was a quarter-finalist in the men’s individual sabre.
Brou, who made history earlier this year as the first Nigerian to reach the Men’s Sabre Junior world top-10 rankings, was born in the United States but has actively represented Nigeria since 2023 and regularly competes in FIE World Cup events.
While Brou targets qualification for Los Angeles 2028 Los Angeles, where he hopes to be Nigeria’s first Olympic Games fencer, Coach Alogba expressed confidence in the entire fencing squad’s prospects at the upcoming continental championship.
Alogba added, “I am confident in the team. Hopefully, we can have more local-based athletes joining their foreign-based counterparts. This tournament is excellent preparation for the 2026 Commonwealth Championships later this year.”
