13 - 19 September 2001
Issue No.551
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 13 - 19 September 2001 Issue No.551 |
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Worth investing in
Omar Tantawi, vice president of the Amiral Company, main sponsor of Egypt's national handball teams, has said the company will continue sponsoring the game despite the loss of the junior team at the recent world championships. Amiral has signed a one-year deal with the Egyptian Handball Federation and Al-Ahram's Pyramids Advertising Agency to sponsor the game's activities in Egypt. The LE1 million agreement will be paid in three instalments over one year.
"We chose handball because it is a winner," Tantawi said. "It is the only team in the country which is competing with football in its popularity. It has a worldwide reputation and has international exposure which definitely has an impact on us when the achievements of such a successful team are linked to Amiral Group and Sokhna Port. We believe that it's a team one wouldn't worry about investing money in.
"If our experience with handball succeeds we will extend our contract to perhaps the 2003 world championship, bearing in mind that the teams keep it up," Tantawi added. "We are sure that the federation and its president will work on correcting the mistakes of the junior team and will guarantee that this loss will not be repeated."
Tantawi, who is also secretary-general of the National Youth Party in Suez, said the company might consider sponsoring other sports which might have a promising future. "We are very aware of the importance of the private sector in sponsoring sports in Egypt in order to improve at the international level. But we are not ready to start from scratch with a game which has no history at all."
Party work in Suez has included organising a 40-team football tournament. "The teams which represented the five zones of the Suez governorate competed in the six-week event. We gave spectators in the city the opportunity to enjoy a serious activity and arranged an exhibition match in the final which included football stars Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan, Ibrahim Said, Reda Sika, Alaa Nabil and Ahmed Hossam," Tantawi, wearing a black shirt in the photo, said.
Tantawi said exhibition handball matches will be played in Suez soon.
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