Bennamar won the 45-kilogram class as he beat both his opponents at the La Coupole d’Alger venue in Algeria’s capital city – Tunisia’s Mohamed Amine Thamlaoui, who took silver, and Lennie Steyn of South Africa, who finished third.

Steyn’s team-mate Francois Germishuys took gold in the 71kg class, with Egypt’s Moamen Moustafa taking silver and home wrestler Abd Ben Choubane bronze.

Those two classes apart, all eight other weight categories in the freestyle class were won by Egyptian wrestlers.

The heaviest category, the 110kg, went to Adham Abdelkarim, with Tunisia’s Mohammed Nassen taking silver and home wrestler Madjeddine Faidi bronze.

Mohamed Salaheldin won the 92kg class ahead of South Africa’s Mundell Brown, with bronze going to Algeria’s Mohamed Ainzerga.

Omar Hasmany took the 80kg title, with silver going to Algeria’s Yacine Lakrout.

Mohamed Abdelhady was the 65kg victor, as Tunisia’s Mohamed Zorgui took silver and Rubin Van Vuuren of South Africa claimed bronze.

Khaled Mohamed took the 60kg class for Egypt, with silver going to home wrestler Rida Djeffel.

The 55kg crown went to Abdelrahman Mahmoud, who bettered Abderrahmane Benaissa of Algeria and bronze medallist Saber Dridi of Tunisia.

Shehabeldin Mohamed won the 51kg title ahead of Algeria’s Islam Zerrougui  and Kossai Ajimi of Tunisia.

And Omar Mourad claimed the 48kg title with silver going to Tunisia’s Mohamed Hkiri and bronze to Brendin Louw of South Africa.

Tomorrow will see the first junior competition, with the women’s wrestling and Greco Roman events taking place, before Friday’s freestyle.

Senior wrestling is scheduled for the weekend.

Egypt topped the medal table at the 2019 African Championships, held in Hammamet in Tunisia.

Algerian Wrestling Federation President Rabah Chebbah told the Algeria Press Service he wanted better from his country this year after they came fourth last time.