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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 January 2000 Issue No. 464 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 January 2000 Issue No. 464
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Special Books Profile Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Safaga, one of the most delightful beaches on the Red Sea, has sunny days and sky-blue waters ready and waiting to host the Al-Ahram Penta Mistral Sailing World Cup -- which starts 15 January. The world's top sailors have entered, including Italian Alexander Sisani, winner of the bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Other big names are Bulgarian Gerard Regecy; Nickos Kakamalax, Inadonos Khoshofa and Angela Iscanano of Cyprus; and the German duo of Alexander Boursen and Romy Kanzel. Sails about to unfurl
By Abeer AnwarEleven players are representing Egypt. To reduce expenses and alleviate the financial burden on the Egyptian Federation, seven of them are being sponsored by their clubs. "We have chosen to sponsor and pay for the best four players -- Mohamed and Sherif Hafez, Ibrahim Ismail and Tarek Abdel-Halim," said Emile El-Wazan, head of the organising committee. He added that all the Egyptian entrants have been training under the tutelage of a Ukrainian coach. Transporting their equipment to and from Safaga will also be financed by the federation.
Rounding out the Egyptian field is Hossameddin Sharaf and Mustafa Amir from the Maadi Club, Ahmed Habash and Amr Sakr from the Cairo Yachting Club, Ali Sultan and Mohamed Ezzat from the Arab Contractors and Tamer Talaat from the Marine Club.
This is the view in Safaga for the upcoming saling championship
El-Wazan said he was pinning Egypt's medal hopes on Mohamed Hafez, who finished in 17th place out of 27 in the world championship in Greece.
The opening ceremony will include a number of shows, one of which will be presented by AUC folklore dancers. To attract people to the show and to the sport, entry is free. The officials expected to attend include the head of the Arab Sailing Federation Sheikh Khalifa Ben Saad, head of the International Mistral Committee Rory Roderson, Egyptian Tourism Minister Mamdouh El-Beltagui and Red Sea Governor Saad Abu Reda -- in addition to the heads of federations of Italy, France and Cyprus. A number of TV channels will cover the event, most notably the BBC and Euro Sport. The first and second channels of Egyptian TV will broadcast the tournament live as well.
Eleven races are to be held each day. Arab participants include Tunisia and Algeria -- which took first and second place respectively in last year's Pan-Arab Games in Jordan.
