RIYADH: Nine-year-old Ghasaq Alqahtani discovered fencing by watching her older sister train at home, sparking a passion that has taken the young Saudi Arabia athlete to competitions in Europe and the Gulf.
“I started when I was 5 years old ... My mom used to train my sister and I used to watch them. I wanted to give it a try,” Alqahtani told Arab News. “My mother is a retired athlete, which pushed me and my siblings to do sports.”
She first picked up a foil, one of fencing’s three disciplines, before coaches recognized that her speed made her better suited to saber.
Unlike foil, where touches are limited to the torso, saber allows fencers to score above the waist using both the edge and the tip of the blade, making it the fastest of fencing’s three disciplines.
“When I tried (fencing), I fell in love because I like how disciplined it was … how they pushed you to train hard and how fast it was.”
