12 - 18 July 2001
Issue No.542
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 12 - 18 July 2001 Issue No.542 |
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A sea of optimism
Following the first African Open Sailing Championship, host Egypt was full of what the event is called -- optimism
Though it failed to finish anywhere near the top in the first African Open Sailing Championship in Alexandria, Egyptian officials, nevertheless, predict a rosy future in the sport.
Emil El-Wazzan, vice president of the Egyptian Sailing and Water Skiing Federation, said the results -- a 14th- place finish in the individual event and sixth in the team discipline -- was more than satisfactory. "As a matter of fact, they were excellent considering that we were the youngest participants. By next year's championship in Morocco, we will be more experienced and could eventually dominate on the African level."
The age of the contestants was between a very young seven and a not much older 16, the category of all worldwide Optimism events. Egypt's entries were between seven to 10, reinforcing El- Wazzan's claim that the team can only get better.
"The players are promising and the federation's policy is to nurture the juniors," he said. "The first step is to develop on the continental and regional levels in order to take part in European and world championships."
Altogether 50 participants representing nine countries took part in the first edition of the Optimism competition. Singapore's Sang Chin crossed the finish line first, followed by Algeria's Louli Abdallah and Zeinani Abdel- Hamid, also of Algeria.
Singapore also claimed first place in the team event. Algeria was second followed by South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Zimbabwe, the United Arab Emirates and the Seychelles.
"We have fantastic beaches which allow us to not only organise competitions but to produce world champions," El-Wazzan said. "Hosting such events is a great opportunity for our athletes to experience international competition. Maybe one day we will have top-ranked Egyptian players in the world."
However, El-Wazzan complained that the Ministry of Youth was preventing the federation from participating in international events before it first realised some victories of merit. Which, he added, begged the question: "How can we improve if we cannot compete?"
El-Wazzan said the head of the participating federations had agreed to found an African Sailing Federation. It will most likely be headquartered in Cairo.
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