Three Moroccan Karatekas Win Bronze at Oran’s 2022 Mediterranean Games

Rabat – Moroccan karatekas won three bronze medals at the 19th Mediterranean Games, which kicked off on June 25 in Oran, Algeria.

Morocco’s Chaimae El Haiti won a bronze medal in the under 50 kg category after a 2-0 victory against the Turkish Serap Ozcelik, a former world champion.

Mehdi Sriti, another Moroccan athlete, won the bronze in the under 84 kg, defeating Portugal’s Nuno Miguel Moreira (8-0), while Nisrine Brouk won in the under 68 kg category after her victory against Greece’s Vasiliki Panetsidou.

Brouk’s match against Vasiliki ended in a draw (3-3), but the Moroccan karateka won for having scored the first point.

Morocco brought a delegation of 130 athletes, engaged in 15 sports, to the Mediterranean Games, taking place between June 25 and July 6.

International athletes are set to compete in 24 sports disciplines, including boxing, cycling, fencing, football, judo, wrestling, weightlifting, taekwondo, and tennis.

Morocco’s record in the Mediterranean Games, held every four years since 1951, stands at 69 gold medals, 77 silver medals, and 99 bronze medals.

While the Moroccan athletes received a warm welcome upon landing in Algiers, Algerian authorities denied entry to a Moroccan press delegation composed of nine journalists, claiming that they did not have accreditation to cover the tournament..

After the journalists were left stranded in the airport, the Moroccan consulate representatives in Oran helped the delegation secure a more comfortable room within the airport.

The Moroccan Sports Press Union condemned Algeria’s decision, arguing that it went “against international media conventions, hindering the right of journalists to practice their professional duty.”

With Algeria closing its airspace and cutting its diplomatic ties with Morocco last year, Moroccan athletes and journalists had to fly to Tunisia before taking another flight to Oran.