9 - 15 May 2002
Issue No.585
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 9 - 15 May 2002 Issue No.585 |
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Knock knock
The blow Egypt suffered last week when it lost its African handball title to Tunisia looks set to be repeated in another team sport, volleyball, against the same North African rival.
Generally, Egypt does well in volleyball, at least at the Arab and African level. But at present, not only is Egypt in danger of losing its African crown in volleyball but poised to take its place on the podium are Tunisia and maybe even Algeria, the very countries which overtook Egypt in the African Nations Cup played in Morocco.
The handball setback was attributed to the ineffectiveness of the coach; in volleyball, it is being put down to no coach at all. Following Egypt's qualification for the World Cup in Argentina, initial press reports had it that the volleyball federation was to take the highly irregular step of not renewing the contract of the coach who got the squad to the finals, Fouad Abdel-Salam. The federation apparently assumed that the World Cup needed a coach of a higher calibre and that Abdel-Salam did not fit the bill but that a foreigner at the helm would.
So far so good, but the federation seems to have belatedly discovered that there are only five months to go before the start of the World Cup and that the national team is rudderless. The other problem is that the federation recanted, halting its hunt for a coach from outside the country.
An Egyptian coach is now back in vogue with the federation and four names have been put on the table, including that of Abdel-Salam. But Abdel-Salam, after being so mercilessly axed of his national team job, took over Ahli club and quickly led the squad to three championships this year; the league, cup and the Arab Championships in Jordan. Should he return to the national squad, he will leave a void in Ahli not easily filled.
The coming and going of Abdel-Salam resembles ping-pong, a sport the volleyball federation presumably knows little about but has apparently mastered recently by the way it has handled the issue of who its coach should ultimately be.
Whoever takes on the responsibility of Egypt's volleyballers -- also in the running is Zamalek's Gaber Abdel-Ati, former national team coach Ibrahim Fakhreddin and Shams Club Abdel-Hamid El-Wesimi -- it is a risky venture for he would have the unenviable task of trying to get a team that has been sunning itself for five months into shape for a World Cup challenge.
Adding to the woes of the prospective coach is that some senior members of the squad recently announced their retirement and some are injured. Should the problems not be ironed out soon, Egyptian sports could be headed for another knock.
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