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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 September 1999 Issue No. 446 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 September 1999 Issue No. 446
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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 Books Special Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Disabled athletes set for gold
By Abeer AnwarFor the first time since the inception of the Pan-Arab Games in 1953, disabled athletes will be officially competing in their own right. Jordan will host the tournament from 6 to 21 September.
Egypt is expected to reap the lion's share of success in the Pan-Arab Games, as it did in the able-bodied competition. The country is sending squads in athletics, weightlifting, table tennis, football, bell ball -- a modified version of volleyball, but for the blind -- and wheelchair basketball.
The athletics squad totals 13 members, six of whom are mentally disabled and the other seven physically handicapped. They will participate in running, high jump, shot-put, javelin and discus. The team has been training at the Olympic Centre in Maadi, and Coach Hamdi Abdel-Rehim confidently predicts 10 medals or more. "But the competition will be very tough between us and Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco who have several world record holders between them," Abdel-Rehim added.
The weightlifters are gunning for 10 gold medals. Experience will come in handy since seven of the 10 players took part in the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics where they set new world records. All eyes will be on Egypt's world record holder in the 56kg category, Ahmed Gomaa. He is considering whether to compete in the 2000 Sydney Paralympics -- his fourth . The team has been training twice a day at the Maadi Centre since February. The morning workout, says coach Mahmoud Nabil, consists of lifting heavy weights while the evening session is devoted to less strenuous exercise in order to relax the muscles. Medal contenders include Kuwait and Libya.
The wheelchair basketball squad comprises 12 members who have been training in South Africa where they won three matches and lost one. Manager Farouk Habib expects a gold medal while the players believe Jordan will be their strongest challenger.
Disabled athletes train at the Maadi Olympic Centre for the Pan-Arab Games in Jordan beginning this week
photos: Khaled El-FiqiThe 11-member table tennis team, eight men and three women, are also aiming for the jackpot. They, too, trained for two weeks at the Olympic Centre.
As for bell ball, in which blind players hear where the ball is, the team expects the gold medal, only natural since Egypt pioneered the sport. The same holds true for football.
A cog that could stall the otherwise well-oiled Egyptian medal machine is the All-Africa Games, to be staged in South Africa simultaneously with the events for the disabled in Jordan. The All-Africa games will also include a programme for disabled athletes and as a result, the Egyptian Disabled Federation may be forced to divide its players into two groups, one for the tournament in Amman, the other for the championship in Johannesburg. Such a division of labour, says federation head Hossam Mustafa, could mean fewer medals on both continents.
