3 - 9 May 2001
Issue No.532
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 3 - 9 May 2001 Issue No.532 |
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They both fell down
Neither Ahli's men nor women came away with a trophy at the African Winners Cup handball championship. From Meknes, Inas Mazhar reports on the twin flops
The women finished in seventh place. The men did far better, reaching the final. In the end, however, neither sex managed to win when it counted the most.
Ahli's men were drubbed 27-20 by defending champion Africaine of Tunisia in Africa's Winners Cup handball championship in Meknes, Morocco. In the same tournament, the club's females finished an embarrassing seventh out of nine teams.
The defeat of the men's team was particularly disappointing not only because they were runners-up but because it extended the team's losing streak. The club failed to win any of the four championships it entered in the past two months, including going down in three national championships to rivals Zamalek.
For Africaine it was deja vu. It beat Ahli in the final of the same championship in Rabat in 1985. Olympic of Algeria finished third after beating hosts Meknes 25-17.
Algeria's Skikda, Police of Libya, Cameroon's Army Forces, Fateh of Rabat and the Congo's Interclub claimed the fifth to ninth places respectively.
In Meknes, Ahli started out as one of the favourites along with Africaine and Algeria's Olympic. Despite the triple loss to Zamalek in local competitions, the club arrived in Meknes following 10 days of hard training in Hungary. To the fans here they were the heroes from Egypt, the world's fourth-ranked team. Moroccan fans were eager to have their photos taken with international players like Gohar Nabil, Saber Hussein, Hazem Awad and goalie Khaled El-Awadi.
In its run to the final Ahli won all its four encounters. In the first round, the team beat Algeria's Skikda, Cameroon's Armed Forces and in the second defeated the home team Meknes, followed by the Police of Libya to reach the final.
In the final, the locals did an about-face and cheered the Tunisians on, perhaps angry over their club's ouster by Ahli.
Head coach Gamal Shams, shaking his head in dismay, refused to comment after the final.
Shams's counterpart on the women's side, Mosaad Abbas, was not at a loss for words. "The result was good; however, if we were placed in Group B we would have done better and could have reached the semi-finals. But the draw wasn't carried out properly from the beginning. The officials of the African federation broke the rules and conducted the draw haphazardly."
In the women's competition, Ahli managed only seventh place after walloping hapless Evabuk of the Congo 41-19. Ahli was placed in Group A in the preliminary round, considered one of the more powerful groups. After beating Nuru of the Congo and losing to Mouloudia of Algeria, defending champions Africa Sport and Etoile of the Congo, they finished fourth in the group. Eighth place went to Evabuk while Nuru ended dead last.
Defending champions Africa Sport of Cote d'Ivoire clinched the title for the second consecutive time, beating Mouloudia of Algeria 24-22 in a thrilling final. Congo's Etoile beat Banco Sport of Cote d'Ivoire for third place. Real Atlantic of Cote d'Ivoire and Real Atlantic of Cameroon took fifth and sixth respectively.
Abbas added that women's handball in Egypt is a long way off before improving. He urged the Egyptian Handball Federation to pay more attention to the women's game whether at club or international level. "We will never improve and jump to a higher level unless we participate in more championships like the men. We need at least half the attention and money the men get. Why shouldn't Egypt have two world class teams?" asked Abbas, who is also head coach of the women's handball national team.
Ahli's men's team is scheduled to play in the second of three super league tournaments today in Port Said. Its losing streak may yet continue, the club having lost the first super league to Zamalek.
The African Federation announced the dates of future competitions: the African League Champions Cup in Nigeria will be played in November while the African Nations Cup in Rabat is in February 2002.
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