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Host nation makes five gold finals as eliminations wrap at Oran 2026

23 July 2026

Oran (Algeria)

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Imadeddine Bakri became the first Algerian to make a recurve men’s gold medal final in the history of the African Archery Championships as individual eliminations wrapped at Oran 2026 on Thursday.

“This is my fourth African Championships and this is my first final. Did playing at home help me? Yes and no,” said the 26-year-old. “There is stress and there is pressure, but it’s good to shoot.”

Bakri upset the form book to come from seventh place in qualification, beating third seed Chan Yam Ryan of Mauritius 6-4 in the semifinals, and giving the host nation yet another final.

“The competition for me didn’t start this week. It started last year. I imagined [the finals] in my head, then I did it in the reality.”

Bakri will face top seed Bahaaeldin Aly of Egypt for gold on Sunday, who breezed through his matches dropping just four points.

The recurve ’s final will see last year’s individual runner-up and this year’s top seed, Tunisia’s Roua Ben Abdelkader take on Rania Hachani of Algeria. Hachani, who was a part of last year’s gold medal-winning recurve women’s team said afterwards she was “quite confident” of taking home gold.

The compound women‘s final will be an all-Namibian affair between Elisabeth Taljaard and Nabeul 2023 champion Jacqueline Coetzee, the top two seeds, while the men‘s will see last year’s winner Adrien Charoux try to defend his title against Jannie Meuwesen of Namibia – again, a battle of the top two seeds.

In barebow, Faith Adekogbe of Nigeria will take on Algeria‘s Marwa Rahmoun, while on the men’s side Junior Aristide Falang Delli of Cameroon will battle Nacim Younsi of the host nation.

The competition continues with team eliminations on Friday, while the weekend’s finals will be available to watch free on archery+.