France, Egypt ski to the sky

By Abeer Anwar

Florida Stars show team in a superb performance Photo: Abeer Anwar

The French and Egyptian teams took the breath out of the eight teams that hit the clear blue water of Al-Gouna for the 9th Mediterranean Water Skiing Championship that took place from 24-27 September.

The competition was divided into two groups because of the varying skills and experience of the eight teams from Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon and Spain. The first division included France, Greece, Italy and Spain, while Division Two was composed of Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt and Lebanon. Each team had four skiers, with no restrictions on the sex of the participants. The competition included three events, namely: the slalom, tricks and the jump.

France led the first group with 7,038.2 points, while Egypt came on top of the second division with 2,439.9 points. The competition was organised in such a way that there would be no overall team winner.

The best overall individual player was European champion Angeliki Adriopoulou of Greece with a total of 2,430.6 points in the three events. France's Sebastien Cans came second with 2,363.9, while world junior champion, Frenchman Clementine Lucine, came third with 2,355.8 points.

"I have never played in such good weather before," said Lucine. "This place is fantastic and the weather is great. The people are also very helpful and generous. I would be glad to take part in any coming events in Egypt."

Egypt's four skiers in the competition were Amr Fouad, Tamer El-Bahi, Khaled Sorour and Ahmed Ghalab, who, at 15, was the youngest player on the team. Ghalab proved that skill knew no age when he scored the best results for the team.

"The Egyptian team started preparing for this event only one-and-a-half months ago under the new French coach, Florent Peyre," said Emiel El-Wazzan, head of the organising committee of the event.

Peyre will be preparing the team for the forthcoming Arab championship to take place in the United Arab Emirates on 9 and 10 October.

It was the second time for Egypt to host the Mediterranean championship, the first being in Al-Temsah Lake in Ismailiya in 1990. "It was fabulous this time because Al-Gouna had tremendous preparations," said El-Wazzan, also deputy head of the Egyptian Sailing and Water Skiing Federation.

The organising committee used the services of Dutchman Chris Mal, water skiing instructor, and twice European junior champion, who was involved in the organisation of two European championships in the 1980s and the World Championship in Austria in 1990.

"This is a perfect place for the events and the weather helps the skiers to achieve good results," said Jon Marie, vice-president of the International Water Skiing Federation and head of the Referees' Committee that officiated the Al-Gouna event.

In between the three events, the Florida Stars show team from the United States, which was invited by the Egyptian Federation, put up some wonderful exhibitions that left spectators asking for more.

Red Sea Governor Saad Abou Reida, who attended the competition, said: "The Red Sea Governorate will always be a place of attraction for all water sports because of its good weather and clear water, and I'll do my best to provide these events with all facilities."

The owner of Al-Gouna, Samieh Saweris, said it was suitable for skiing and other water sports because of the warm weather, the multitude of hotels in the area and the official arena.