Doha, September 01 (QNA) - Aspire Academy organized a six-day international fencing training camp, bringing together 66 fencers from the Netherlands, Greece, Argentina, Malaysia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, alongside Qatari fencers, as well as Aspire Academy students and graduates, ahead of the upcoming season.

The participants included Saudi fencer Khalifah Al Omairi, who won the bronze medal in the epee competition at the recent World Fencing Championships in Hong Kong, and Dutch fencer Tristan Tulen, who previously competed at the Olympic Games and won the Doha Grand Prix last January.

The training camp featured 12 training sessions totaling 36 hours, supervised by 16 coaches from Aspire Academy and abroad.

Hugo Dergal, Aspire Academy's Senior Epee Coach, said he had received highly positive feedback from the visiting fencers and coaches, as well as homegrown athletes.

Dergal said he was pleased that they were able to enjoy Aspire Academy's facilities, hoping that the academy would build on this camp, expand it, and invite more fencers not only from the Middle East but from around the globe.

He noted that Aspire Academy's student-athletes benefited from multiple invaluable lessons during the camp.

Dutch fencer Tristan Tulen admired the potential of Aspire Academy's fencers, saying he was very happy to accept the invitation without hesitation, especially since the Academy's facilities are first-class.

Tulen added that the Academy's fencers have a high degree of professionalism in many ways, despite their young age, and he believes they have great potential to develop to the level of international competition in the future.

Among the homegrown fencers who took part in the training camp was Ali Turki Owaida, who ended last season with a historic feat after becoming the first Qatari fencer to reach the last 64 at the World Fencing Championships.

  His next challenge will be to represent Qatar at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan, which begin on Sept. 19.

Owaida said it is easy for a person to see one result and feel happy and satisfied, but his goals, and those of Aspire Academy and the national team, have always been to develop and improve.

He will join five other Academy graduates and two current student-athletes at a training camp in Japan beginning Sept. 13, ahead of the fencing contests at the Asian Games, which begin a week later. (QNA)