31 May - 6 June 2001
Issue No.536
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 31 May - 6 June 2001 Issue No.536 |
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What bodies!
Egypt's body-builders out-muscled the opposition in the first intercontinental championship, reports Alaa Shahine
Egypt's body-building team flexed its muscles in the first intercontinental championship. Strutting their stuff in Assiut, they came first, garnering a massive 85 points after winning four gold medals, one silver and two bronze. Poland was a distant second with 55 points, 18 points ahead of Saudi Arabia which finished with 37 points.
photo: Ayman Ibrahim
Fourteen nations from three continents participated in the inaugural edition of the championship. Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria represented Africa; for Asia, it was Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen; Italy, Portugal and Poland were the European participants.
Egypt's preparations for the championship were marred by the withdrawal of world light middleweight champion Yousri El-Sayed and team-mate Tamer El-Shahat, both of whom had conditioned their participation upon receiving overdue remuneration from the federation. The money did not come and, consequently, neither did the athletes.
The sudden withdrawal forced the team's coaching staff to scramble. "We had to redistribute the players in the different weights," Said Osman, Egypt's coach, told reporters after the championship. El-Shahat Mabrouk was forced to lose 10 kilogrammes to play in the under-80kg category. Mohamed Gamal played in the under-65kg weight instead of under-73kg.
The changes were a blessing in disguise as Egypt's first gold medal came from Gamal in the under-65kg category, while Saudi Arabia's Fadel Al-Kazim snatched the silver medal ahead of Egypt's Gamal El-Maadawi.
The under-70kg category saw Egypt winning its second gold medal, by Hatem Ibrahim, who surpassed Poland's Thomas Blaziak and Lebanese Rashad Abdel-Ghani.
The hosts did not participate in the under-70kg category, paving the way for the UAE's Mahmoud Ali to take the gold ahead of Polish Grez Gorz and Italian Diego Martinez. The toughest category was the under-80kg in which El-Shahat Mabrouk topped Libya's Kamal Abdel-Salam for Egypt's third gold medal. Adel Badawi, in the under-90kg category, capped the gold haul with Egypt's fourth.
Egypt's other medals in the over-90kg category saw Ali Abu El-Yazid and Nader Abdel-Moneim winning the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Speaking to reporters after the competition, president of the Egyptian and African federations Adel Fahim hailed the Assiut governorate for its organisation. "Assiut made us proud to host the inaugural edition of the event which was Egypt's idea in the first place," Fahim said.
The event was attended by Lebanese Melih Alwan, the International Body-building Association's vice president for the Middle East. Canadian Ben Weider, president of the world's body-building ruling body, was unable to attend after meeting with Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to discuss making body-building an official sport and adding it to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
"However, we informed Weider of all that happened in the championship to ensure that such an event will continue taking place in the coming years," Fahim said.
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