Lebanon’s Shaito crashes out of the Olympics

Lebanon’s Mona Shaito crashed out of the Olympics following a comprehensive 15-2 loss against Elisa Di Francesca of Italy in the last 32 of the women’s individual foil at the ExCel stadium in London Saturday. Earlier in the day Shaito won by a narrow margin of 7-6 against Egypt’s Shaimaa El-Gammal to set up the match against the experienced Italian.For now Shaito will turn her focus to supporting her older brother Zain, who is competing in the men’s individual foil, which begins Tuesday July 31. Although born and raised in the United States, the siblings decided to represent Lebanon, the homeland of their father, at this summer’s Olympics. In the process they turned down the opportunity to represent the U.S. national team in a decision that caused mild controversy stateside. Speaking to The Daily Star about his decision to represent Lebanon, Zain Shaito said: “To all the Lebanese in Lebanon and all over the world, I just want to say it is an honor to represent every Lebanese equally. I have never cared for what kind of Lebanese someone is, Christian or Sunni Muslim, or Shiite Muslim, or Druze. “I fight my hardest for my heritage, and my heritage is Lebanese. I hope everyone can take the example from the Olympic Games and how we represent Lebanon as one and come together as one country. Only together can a country become strong and prosperous,” Shaito said. Zain Shaito told AFP that his involvement, and that of his sister, in the Olympics showed there was more to Lebanon than political violence. “Sports can change minds,” Zain, 22, told AFP. “The Olympic Games unite people and make them forget about fighting.” Although qualifying to represent Lebanon via their father, the siblings’ mutual interest in fencing started courtesy of their mother. Despite being the younger by four years, Mona Zaito was the first to take up the sport. “I started fencing when I was nine,” Mona said. “My mom convinced me to try it after seeing it on television. We were living in Michigan at the time and when we moved to Dallas, that’s when I started.” Zain’s first love was ice hockey. “I was mad about hockey and I dreamt of playing in the NHL. But one day I broke my hand, and my mother thought the best way to recover was through fencing.” They both stuck with the sport, and this year they helped Ohio State University win the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) fencing title. Zain Shaito also won the individual men’s foil NCAA title, with Mona, still only 17, third in the women’s foil. Their sporting careers continued during the Asian and Oceanic Olympic fencing qualifiers in Wakayama, Japan, in April. “I was under pressure because my sister qualified the day before,” Zain said. “It was a special moment because I knew when I qualified I would be following her to the Olympics.” Mona was also taken aback by getting to the Games: “When I needed two more touches, the pressure was big ... When I qualified I was stunned.” Elsewhere for Lebanon, Wael Koubrosli came last in his heat in the men’s 100m breast stroke with a time of 1:07.06 while Sarah Hanffou of Cameroon defeated Tvin Moumjoghlian 11-6, 11-4, 11-6, 11-2 in the table tennis.