Tunisia's Fares Ferjani wins silver for first Arab medal at Paris Olympics 2024

Ferjani claims glory in men's individual sabre on Saturday

Silver medalist Fares Ferjani of Tunisia celebrates on the podium during the men's individual sabre medal ceremony on day one of Paris Olympics at Grand Palais. Getty Images

Tunisia's Fares Ferjani lost the men's individual sabre gold medal bout. AFP

South Korea's Oh Sang-uk, left, defeated Fares Ferjani to clinch gold. AFP

South Korea's Oh Sang-uk celebrates his win on Saturday. AFP

South Korea's Oh Sang-uk won the men's individual sabre gold medal bout 15-11. AFP

Oh Sang-uk, centre, Fares Ferjani and bronze medalist Luigi Samele of Italy. Getty Images

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Tunisia's Fares Ferjani claimed a superb silver medal in the men's individual sabre at the Paris Olympics on Saturday night.

Ferjani, 27, put up a brave fight but ultimately fell short, losing 15-11 in the gold medal bout against South Korea's Oh Sang-uk.

The Korean fencer opened up a 2-0 lead but Ferjani stayed within reach at 6-4 down. Oh then stretched his lead to 11-4 to close in on gold.

A point that would have won Oh the gold was overturned on review. Ferjani then won five more points before Oh could close out the win. It denied Ferjani what would have been the first fencing gold for an African nation.

Still, it was a memorable day for Ferjani as he secured the first medal for Arab nations at the games. He can reflect on an excellent effort having already beaten Egypt's world number one Ziad El Sissy in the semi-finals.

It was a tough day for El Sissy who had set his sights on gold. After losing to Ferjani, El Sissy was hoping to secure bronze for his efforts.

But he lost out in his bronze medal match against Italy's Luigi Samele. El Sissy made a slow start but turned an early deficit into a 5-3 lead. Samele then blazed to a 8-6 lead, pushing the advantage to 11-8.

The momentum was with the Italian and he wrapped up a 15-12 victory despite a late rally from the Egyptian.

Over in football, Argentina got their Olympics campaign back on track as they defeated Iraq 3-1 in Lyon.

Pre-tournament favorites Argentina suffered a shock 2-1 loss to Morocco in their opening Group B game – a match marred by a pitch invasion from Moroccan fans and a two-hour delay.

Thiago Almada, who Argentina coach Javier Mascherano said had a watch stolen when the team's training base was robbed earlier this week, opened the scoring with a volley in the 14th minute at Stade de Lyon.

Iraq then threatened to pull off another surprise when Aymen Hussein levelled the game in first-half stoppage time. But goals from Luciano Gondou and Ignacio Fernandez secured victory for Argentina.

Gondou's far-post header in the 62nd minute restored Argentina's lead and Fernandez curled in a long-range shot from the edge of the box.

In the other Group B match, 10-man Ukraine claimed a dramatic 2-1 win over Morocco in Saint-Etienne.

Dmytro Kryskiv put Ukraine ahead after 22 minutes before Morocco's Soufiane Rahimi, who scored twice against Argentina, equalised from the penalty spot in the 64th minute with Volodymyr Saliuk sent off.

Igor Krasnopir, however, grabbed a late winner in the final seconds of the game to hand Ukraine their first Olympic triumph.

However, unlike Morocco’s opener against Argentina that was marred by crowd trouble, there were no such issues on Saturday.

In tennis, weather played spoilsport as Tunisian Moez Echargui's opening match against Dan Evans of England and Lebanon player Benjamin Hassan's clash with Chris Eubanks of the US were postponed due to rain.

However, fellow Lebanese Hady Habib put his best foot forward and produced a commendable effort against Carlos Alcaraz at Roland Garros in men's singles.

Despite being a late replacement in the draw for the injured Hubert Hurkacz, Habib gave a good account of himself in a 6-3, 6-1 first round defeat to the Spaniard.

Table tennis veteran Dina Meshref of Egypt had a forgettable day.

Meshref, competing in her fourth Olympics, played in mixed doubles with Omar Assar. But the duo comfortably lost 4-0 to the Chinese pair of Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuquin.

Meshref will now have to focus on the singles event on Sunday where she faces Maria Xiao of Spain.

Also, Jordanian lightweight Obada Al Kasbeh made a victorious start to the Games in the 63kg category as he defeated Ireland's Dean Clancy 3-2 in the round of 32.

Al Kasbeh progresses to the last 16 where he will face home medal hope Sofiane Oumiha of France, who received a bye in the opening round.

Oumiha is a former European and world champion and is among the favourites for gold.