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Al-Ahram Weekly 19 - 25 August 1999 Issue No. 443 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 19 - 25 August 1999 Issue No. 443
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Promise kept
By Abeer Anwar
Track and field has never been Egypt's forte and, true enough, the country's Achilles Heel stuck out like a sore thumb at the Pan-Arab Games currently being held in Jordan. Following the end of the track and field events, Egypt stood in fifth place, having garnered three gold, two silver and 13 bronze medals. Morocco leads the table with 33 medals, 11 of them gold, followed by Tunisia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In comparison, Iraq, participating for the first time in the Games since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, was listed in 12th place with just a bronze medal to its credit.
Aware of the modest reputation of its athletes, the Egyptian Athletics Federation was not in the least bit critical of the country's performance, saying it had achieved what it had set out to do.
Egypt sent 36 track and field athletes to Jordan. Mohamed Qassem collected the bronze in the shot-put. Qatar and Saudi Arabia picked up the gold and silver respectively. "I prepared well," Qassem said. "But I soon realised I need a lot more experience, especially after watching Belal Saad." Qatar's Saad took the gold.
Moawad Zaki came third in the 20km walk after finishing the race in 1 hour, 40 minutes. Manar Mohamed collected two bronze medals in two separate events, the 100m hurdles and the high jump, a rare feat.
Nagwa Ibrahim won Egypt's first gold medal in the 10km walk while teammate Karima Meskeen took the silver in the 400m and the bronze in the 100m. In the 110m hurdles, Mohamed Salem collected the bronze. Teammate Wafaa El-Boghdadi won the bronze in the shot-put with a heave of 15.57 metres.
Shaimaa El-Koumi (left) sprints to a bronze medal in the 4 x 400 in the Pan-Arab Games. Egypt's men's basketball team (right) qualified for the second round after trouncing Syria 111-76. Unfortunately, the women did not fare as well, losing to Tunisia 76-74 despite the efforts of Shahinaz Nasser (photos: AFP)
Egypt's Yamen Abdel-Moneim collected the silver in the hammer throw while Rasha Abdel-Khalek came third in the pole vault. Mona Mustafa collected the bronze in the javelin. Either because of or despite the fact that he ran barefoot in the 3000m steeplechase, Egypt's Abdel-Rasoul El-Badri came fourth.
On the fourth and last day of the competition, Marwa Hussein collected the second gold for Egypt in the hammer with a 58.97m throw. A third gold for Egypt was claimed by Ahmed Abdel-Mawgoud in the marathon. Hefny Abdel-Mawgoud won two bronze medals in the 400m hurdles and 4 x 400m, while Hala Abdel-Rehim added two more bronze medals in the 400m hurdles and 4 x 400m.
The absence of Egypt's Hatem Mersal, a world champion bronze medallist, cost the country an almost certain gold medal in the long jump; Mersal is currently training in Switzerland in preparation for the World Championships in Spain.
Due to the upcoming World Track and Field Championships in Seville, the athletics programme in Jordan started four days before Sunday's official opening ceremony.
