6 - 12 September 2001
Issue No.550
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 6 - 12 September 2001 Issue No.550 |
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Half-time
In need of the boss
The disappointing eighth place finish of the Egyptian junior handball team in the world championship does not augur well for the future of the sport. The senior squad, fourth in the world, depends heavily on the constant supply of young strong throwing arms. But judging by the diminishing standards of the youngsters, it will get harder for their big brothers to maintain their world ranking.
Of course, the junior team's role in life is not simply limited to churning out raw talent on a factory line for future consumption. It is also supposed to do Egypt proud. But in Switzerland, site of the world meet, the team fell far short of projecting such a noble image. It was mauled 38-29 by Yugoslavia in the play-off for seventh and eighth place. The defeat was coupled with similar losing efforts against Spain and Russia,
The miserly performance was all the more galling considering where this team once was -- on top of the world in 1993 when the tournament was held in Cairo.
In fairness to the teenage team, it's not just them whose performance has degenerated. A general handball malaise has taken over. After its stunning fourth-place finish in last year's world championship in France, the senior team fumbled in a world tournament in Bercy, finishing dead last. The year before the same team in the same tournament came first.
Where is Hassan Mustafa, president of the Egyptian and international handball federations, in all this? So embarrassed was Mustafa by the team's ineptness in Switzerland that he refused to return with the players on the same flight.
Upon his arrival, Mustafa minced no words when announcing that the team was in hot water. An immediate inquest, he said, would start and heads will roll, whether they be those of players or coaching staff.
Those close to Mustafa are certain the junior team will be taken to task. He is an acknowledged taskmaster and it was his iron grip on the Egyptian federation, plus an astute sense of what a team needs to succeed, that propelled Egypt high in world rankings.
But Mustafa's twin posts have lately greatly reduced the time he would like to spend managing Egyptian handball and the consequence has been the desultory results of the country's teams of all ages.
Unlike other people in other nations who, for the most part, know their job and what they're doing, Egypt is the kind of country in which if you want something to be done and done correctly you have to do it yourself. Sitting back and dreaming up a master plan while leaving subordinates to handle the details doesn't work. If he wants to return to his winning ways, Mustafa must immerse himself once again in all the teensy-weensy aspects of the game instead of focusing on just the big picture.
Mustafa has publicly said he is seriously thinking of leaving his post in Egypt to make way for a more hands- on federation president. For now, though, he continues to run the show on both the local and international level. However, the debacle in Switzerland will almost surely force him to look more closely at what is happening in his own backyard.
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