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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters African draw
CO-HOSTS Ghana and Nigeria will be grateful for home advantage during the African Nations Cup finals next January and February. Ghana, champions a record-equalling four times, were grouped with former winners Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire and Togo in Group 1 when the draw was made in Lagos. Nigeria, twice holders of the cup that signifies continental supremacy, have an even more difficult task in Group 4 against North African giants Tunisia and Morocco as well as Congo. Defending champions Egypt play Zambia, Burkina Faso and Senegal in Group 3 and 1998 runners-up South Africa meet Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria in Group 2. The biennial championship begins on 22 January with a match between Ghana and Cameroon in Accra and ends on 13 February with the final at the Surulere Stadium in Lagos. Group 4 is easily the toughest with Morocco and Tunisia, ranked first and second in Africa by world governing body FIFA, fighting for the top two places with 1980 and 1994 champions Nigeria. Ghana will draw confidence from a 3-1 qualifying win in Cameroon as they attempt to regain No 1 position in Africa following an 18-year break. Egypt, without a coach since Mahmoud El-Gohari resigned after a 5-1 loss to Saudi Arabia last month in the Confederations Cup, begin their defence against Zambia, who they walloped 4-0 en route to winning the 1998 tournament. South Africa, 1996 champions and 1998 runners-up, commence their campaign against Gabon. Bafana Bafana (The Boys) beat the Gabonese 4-1 in Pretoria and lost 1-0 in Libreville during the qualifying rounds.Fast learner
AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD British chess whiz-kid has gone down in history as the youngest player to beat a grandmaster. David Howell, a schoolboy from Seaford in eastern England, flummoxed grandmaster John Nunn, who is more than 30 years his senior in a rapid-play exhibition match in London. "I'm quite excited by the win. I thought I was going to lose quite badly," said Howell, who started to play chess at the age of five and is the national under-10 champion. His father Martin, a doctor, said after the match: "I taught him to play and he made sense of the game very quickly, in about an afternoon."Mobile players
ATHLETES at the Seventh World Athletics Championships in Seville were swapping countries more quickly than footballers exchange shirts at the end of a match. The pole vault gold was won by a Russian who lives in Budapest, Hungary, but loyally still wears the colours of his birthplace. Kenyan-born Wilson Kipketer stood on the top step of the podium for the third time after the 800 metres final, to hear again the strains of the Danish national anthem. Moroccan-born Belgian Mohamed Mourhit won the 5,000m bronze medal. Spain's first gold medal of the championships came from Niurka Montalvo, a Cuban who married a Spaniard early last year. The heptathlon gold medallist, Eunice Barber, represented France in Seville. Two years ago, she competed for Sierra Leone. In all, 21 teams left Seville with Spanish gold in their luggage, from the mighty United States with 17 gold medals to the tiny Bahamas and impoverished North Korea. A total of 42 countries won a medal of some sort, one more than in Athens two years ago.Headway in handball
EGYPT'S national junior handball team drew closer to the semi-finals of the World Championship currently being held in Qatar. Egypt, which won the title in 1993 when the championship was held in Cairo, topped its group in the 15-day event after walloping New Zealand 69-7 defeating the hosts 30-26 and Yugoslavia 28-25. The victories gave Egypt six points and first place in its group, followed by Yugoslavia with four, Qatar with two and New Zealand with zero points. Eighteen teams are participating in the championship which was marred before it began by the withdrawal of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain in protest against Israel's participation. Tunisia and Israel drew 19-19 in a match which saw the Tunisians refuse to shake hands with the Israelis before the game while spectators remained seated as Israel's national anthem was being played.More bowling cash
THE SECOND Mubarak International Bowling Championship will start on Saturday at the Armed Forces International Bowling Centre in Nasr City. The tournament, which runs until Thursday, will include 82 players from 18 countries representing Europe, Africa, North and South America and Asia. The top men's player will receive $10,000 while the winner of the women's event will claim $5,000. The prize money is a record for the tournament.
