The first three weight categories at La Coupole d'Alger went to Egypt.

Yehia Hafez won the 57 kilograms title, with silver going to Saber Dridi of Tunisia, and bronze to Algeria’s Mohamed Benmehiriz.

Yousef Eissa won the 61kg title, ahead of Ouassama Laribi and Morocco’s Mohammed Moufrij.

Fathi Ismail won the 65kg gold, with silver going to Farouk Jelassi of Tunisia and bronze to Chouaib Sahraoui of Algeria.

Egypt resumed gold medal standard in the 79kg class, where Saifeldin Elkoumy triumphed ahead of Algeria’s Oussama Abdellaoui and Kamel Jawedi of Tunisia.

There was also Egyptian gold in the two top weight categories as  Abdelrahman Abouheiba took the 97kg title, ahead of Algeria’s Aissa Lagraa, and the top weight of 125kg went to Shady Wehib, with silver going to home wrestler Nour El Islam Bouras.

Algeria’s Abdelkader Ikkal bucked the Egyptian trend to win the 70kg category, ahead of Egypt’s Ahmed Almadboh and Ockert Roos of South Africa.

Wali Kebir contributed another home gold in the 92kg class, with silver being won by Mohamed Abdalla of Egypt and bronze by Tunisia’s Chiheb Chihi.

The other two freestyle gold  medals went to South African wrestlers as Arno Van Zul took the 74kg title, with silver going to home wrestler Youcef Herissi and bronze to Moamen Moustafa of Egypt.

Then, Nicolaas De Lange won the 86kg gold ahead of Algeria’s Fateh Benferdjallah and the Ivory Coast's Ulrich Manouan.

Tomorrow is due to see the senior competition get underway, with finals scheduled in women’s wrestling and Greco-Roman.

The Championships are scheduled to conclude on Sunday (February 9) with the senior freestyle competition.