Al-Ahram Weekly | Sports

		30 May - 5 June 2002 Issue No.588 Sports	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

The one-minute change over
ISMAILI took a commanding two- point lead with just two matches remaining in the soccer league following a 2-1 victory over Qanah. The win raised Ismaili's point total to 60, two ahead of second place Ahli which were held to a surprising 1-1 draw with Ghazl Al- Mehalla.
Defending champions Zamalek continued their freefall, tying 2-2 with Baladiyet Al-Mehalla in Cairo. With 50 points, Zamalek is out of the running.
In Ismailia, Ismaili were close to a draw they could ill-afford but a goal in the 78th minute gave the club the precious three points.
In Mehalla, at roughly the same time, Ahli were nursing a 1-0 lead but Mehalla's tying goal, in the 79th minute, seriously tripped up Ahli's run for the title.
In other results, in Cairo, Misri drew 1-1 with Goldi, while the Arab Contractors beat Suez 1-0. The loss could mean Suez dropping from the premier league. In Upper Egypt, bottom of the table Sohag levelled 2-2 with Ittihad, another team in danger of relegation.
Starting this week, all seven matches will be played on the same day and at the same time, 5.15pm, to ensure fairness.
The league's last games are on 2 June.

Wrestling admission
BY WINNING the 21st African Graeco-Roman and Free Wrestling Championships for men held in Cairo, Egypt has earned the right to be awarded an international seeding in the sport. But the position that Egypt enjoys on the world stage has still not been decided.
The Graeco-Roman team, led by Armenian coach Yehia Kazarayan, swept the gold medals in the seven weight categories.
The women were not as awesome, coming second after Tunisia with seven medals: two gold, four silver and one bronze.
The free wrestling team added five gold medals to win the event.
"The championship was not a target in itself," said Abdel-Khaleq Mekki, general-secretary of the Egyptian Wrestling Federation. "It's a major step in the team's preparation for the World Championships in Russia in September and the 2004 Olympics in Athens." From June to August, the team will be training in Belarus, Germany and Poland and will take part in Germany's and Poland's Grand Prix.

Aiming at Finland
THIS week, the pistol-shooting team enters one of the five stages of the World Cup in Milan, Italy, considered the last major stop before the 48th World Shooting Championship in Finland in July. The skeet team, meanwhile, is currently working out in the Shooting Club before entering its World Cup stage in Germany, at the end of June, followed by the World Championship in July.

Weight and see
THE WORLD Weightlifting Championship for men and women begins in the Czech Republic today. Egypt's contribution will be 15 weightlifters, including seven women. Five hundred weightlifters from 50 countries are competing for 45 medals in the six-day tournament.

Tanta checkmate
UKRANIA's Spartak Fizovic won the masters event in the fifth Tanta International Chess Championship while Egypt's Samir Fathi won the under-16 event.
The 12-day event included 180 contestants from the Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Holland, Greece and Egypt.

Field day
EGYPT goes to the World Track and Field Youth Championship in Jamaica in July with six hopeful, including budding discus talent Omar El-Ghazali who seeks to add to last year's bronze medal in the world championships in Hungary. Trying for another medal is Yasser Fathi, last year's silver medallist in the shot-put. Other contenders are Mohsen El-Anani in the hammer, Gehad Zaki in the 300m, Ahmed Helmi in the 200m and 400m and one female athlete, Hanaa Omar, in the javelin.

Hoopers concerned
THE BASKETBALL squad travels to Yugoslavia next week for a 15-day visit during which it will prepare for the Arab championship to take place in Cairo in early July. After playing Yugoslavia three times, the Egyptians will meet China in another friendly back home. The warm-ups are also being utilised to get ready for the Arab and African Games in Algeria and Nigeria respectively in 2003.
The team is not normally as diligent in training prior to any Arab competition, however, the rest of the Arab world has improved noticeably, to the point where more than one country, particularly Saudi Arabia, pose a genuine threat to Egypt's past supremacy in the region.
Compiled by Nashwa Abdel-Tawwab

Send a letter to the Editor Recommend this page

ARCHIVES
Letter from the Editor
Editorial Board
Subscription
Advertise!

WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly
Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time
weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg

Al-Ahram Organisation