Al-Qalam 
By Nabeelah Shaikh
South Africa’s fencing duo, the “Cassim sisters”, have made their mark on the continent after shining at the Junior Cadet African Fencing Championships held in Accra, Ghana.
The sisters, Aaliyah Cassim, 15, and Imaan Cassim, 17, from Johannesburg, have recently returned from the competition. Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. The sisters began participating in the sport about three and a half years ago.
Aaliyah was ranked fifth in Africa and returned home with two silver medals. Her sister Imaan was ranked 11th on the African continent. Aaliyah was also selected there to participate in the 2023 Fencing Cadet and Junior World Championships to be held in Bulgaria, in April.
“However, because it is taking place in Ramadan, I will not be attending the event this time. I fenced two weapons and brought home two silvers in the team challenges and ranked in the top five in Africa. It was an amazing experience for me to be able to achieve this. The experience was more challenging than anything else. And I think the worst experience for me was the final match where I lost 13-15. I was quite heart-sore about the defeat, but it was something to learn from. I learnt a lot of new things and new tactics,” said Aaliyah Cassim.
There were over 20 African countries that participated in the competition.
Championships
Though she ranked 11th on the continent, Imaan told Al-Qalam she was grateful for the exposure that the competition had given her.
“It was tough. Each country has their own fencing style and their own fencing tactics. It was good to experience their style and see how people train all over Africa. It was also a team effort and that was amazing. I did get a chest infection when I was there and it was a bit tough competing, but I soldiered on. The people there were very friendly, and the competition was really tough. I had expectations, but now I know where I need to improve, and I will work on that. I’m happy that I had the chance to participate in the championships and get the exposure,” said Imaan.
The sisters said the biggest lesson they learnt was that they need to practice more often, to be stronger, harder, and faster. And this is what they’re hoping to achieve as they progress in the sport.
“The other thing is that fencing should definitely be given more attention in South Africa and that’s what we are hoping to do. We are hoping to get the word out there and encourage more people, especially more Muslim women, to participate in the sport. The sport isn’t as well known here, hence, there isn’t enough attention given to it,” said the sisters.
Both sisters are now working towards participating in the next African Championships to be held in 2024, and that event will be held in South Africa.
“We want to put our focus into two weapons and work on perfecting those weapons,” they said.
Their mother, Farhana Cassim, who also took up fencing and encouraged her daughters to learn the sport, said she was extremely grateful to the community who supported her daughters, and to Awqaf SA for noticing their potential and helping them to make their dream of participating, a reality.
Awqaf SA funded a significant portion of the sisters’ trip, allowing them to participate in the championships.
“They could not have done it without the support of the community. My daughters have learnt a lot from this experience. They really fenced well and fenced hard. They got good recognition and got noticed as the two South African Cassim sisters who are excelling in their country. They got their name up there with the rest of Africa’s great fencers. If they never got this opportunity, it would not have been possible to make their mark in the fencing world,” said Farhana.
Imaan and Aaliyah have consistently worked hard, and they ranked number one in both their categories in Gauteng, as well as nationally in South Africa, which qualified them to participate in the African championships.
She says the opportunity they were presented with, has now encouraged them to want to pay it forward.
“They want to bring more people into the sport, knowing that swords are a Sunnah. They want to make fencing a big sport in South Africa and want to get support from our local organisations, and big business, like we are seeing in other countries. In most other countries, there is huge support for fencing, but we don’t see that kind of support here at home, that’s why we had to fundraise for their participation,” said Farhana.
