Yinka Faniyan

Yinka Faniyan (born August 26, 1979) is a well known Nigerian fencer who is a member of the Nigerian Fencing Federation.

Yinka grew up in the south west of Lagos, Nigeria but moved up to Scotland in 1999 to further his education. He took up fencing in 2000 as a foilist after trying a variety of sports during Freshers' Week at the outset of his studies at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Encouraged by his first coach (Bert Bracewell), a former Scottish National Coach, he took up a secondary weapon, sabre, which would later become his primary weapon. In 2004, he decided to make sabre his sole weapon of choice as he found it complemented and enhanced his natural skills of speed and athleticism which are necessary factors needed to overcome his opponents. By his 2nd year at Heriot-Watt University, it soon became apparent to all that Yinka's talent had been recognized which led to him being selected as a substitute on the Scottish University Students' Team. He went on to captain the Scottish University Student's Team in 2002-2003 and the Heriot-Watt University Sabre Team that claimed gold in the 2003 British University Sports Association (BUSA) league. In 2004, Yinka was honored with a Blue Award by Heriot-Watt University, for outstanding sporting performance which was presented by Olympic Curling Gold Medalist Rona Martin.

In the summer of 2004, Yinka received a BEng Honors Degree in Chemical Engineering from Heriot-Watt University. After graduating, he worked part-time while looking for a permanent position within this chosen field. During this period, he joined Edinburgh Fencing Club, where he had regular training sessions with the Scottish Fencing Squad. In June 2005, he was offered a permanent position working as a Process Engineer with Aker Solutions, a Norwegian oil and gas service company based in Aberdeen. Shortly after moving to Aberdeen, he joined Aberdeen City Fencing Club where he is currently involved in coaching beginners and honing the skills of more experienced fencers.

Yinka then went on to participate at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships, Belfast 2006, and worked his way into the top 100 fencers in the world by 2008.