8 - 14 November 2001
Issue No.559
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 8 - 14 November 2001 Issue No.559 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Time-out
Frustration abounds
The Singapore Embassy last week officially apologised to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry after Hassan Mustafa, president of both the Egyptian and International Handball Federations, was forced to scrub plans to travel to Singapore on an official visit after he was denied a visa.
Mustafa was to have headed a meeting of the IHF's general assembly. But when he sought a visa on 19 October from the Singapore Embassy in Cairo he was turned down and had no choice but to scrap the visit and send his apologies to the IHF as well as the International Olympic Committee.
Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher asked the Singapore ambassador to Cairo for an explanation for the rebuff. The immigration office in Singapore was to blame, the ambassador said, and he officially apologised for the slight. The apology was accepted but Maher made it clear Egypt would not tolerate a similar incident in the future.
Having made our own opinion clear about the incident in this column last week, we thank the minister for his personal intervention into the matter. We also repeat the advice we gave Singapore: don't play host if you're not intending to send out invitations. While Singapore may have security concerns in the wake of the September terror attacks in the United States, high- ranking Egyptian officials, in sports or otherwise, are not terrorists and should not be treated as if they were.
There was frustration on another front. It was felt strongly by Ahli, who were vexed on the football pitch. They saw their hopes of reaching the African Champions League final plunge dramatically after their scoreless draw against Tunisia's Esperance in Cairo. The score means Ahli must come out victorious when the two meet in Tunisia later this month. That is not the scenario Ahli would have wished. A win, even by a goal, in Cairo would have meant a draw -- much easier to achieve -- would be sufficient in the away match.
But despite numerous opportunities, Ahli just could not find the net. An extraordinary few seconds in which two shots slammed off the bar and post and two more were blocked by the Tunisian goalkeeper summed up Ahli's night -- it simply wasn't the club's day. And when several floodlights blew out in the second half, throwing a part of the field into darkness, it seemed that a foreboding message had been sent from above.
Ahli will most likely come to rue the chances that went begging in Cairo, for most probably the chances to score will be few and far between in the return leg. Ten years ago, the only other time the two faced off, a penalty shootout was needed after two scoreless games. Esperance won the shootout -- which was played in Cairo.
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