Issue No. 605
Sports
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26 Sept. - 2 October 2002 Issue No. 605 Sports |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Five more years
So successful was the Al-Ahram billiards championship that the organisers have decided to hold it again and again. Inas Mazhar reports
No Egyptian or any other Arab player won the Al-Ahram Billiards Eurocup but celebrations began on Saturday anyway. Following the tournament, the organisation was told it had won a contract to host the event annually for the next five years at the same unique site, on an island in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
The president of the European Billiards Federation, Lufgang Rittman, made the announcement, admitting he had not expected the event to be taken as seriously as it was. He added that when vice-president of both the European and Egyptian billiards' federations presented the proposal to him on paper, he could not quite imagine how the tournament would look like or how it would turn out. "What really took place was beyond anybody's imagination," Rittman told reporters.
What Rittman had trouble imagining -- and for good reason -- was for a world billiards championship to be played in the open, in a glass court to be sure. Such a venue, on Magawish Island in front of a 600-seat stadium, would be a first. And now it will not be the last. According to the competitors, the atmosphere in which they played in was "inspiring" and the setting "gorgeous".
Competition was expected to be fierce since nine of the world's top 10 were taking part, including the world's top seed, Sweden's Tourbjorn Blundahl. But against the odds, the trophy went to third seeded Marco Zaneiti of Italy. Blundahl finished second while third place went to Belgium's Frederick Codoroun.
Egypt was depending on Ihab El- Mesiri, fifth in the world in 1987 and this year's national champion, and Sameh Sedhoum, 15, Egypt's under-21 champion and a potential threat to the established stars. Neither El-Mesiri nor Sedhoum got past the qualifications which were played not outside but in an indoor hall in the Intercontinental Hotel.
The inability of the Egyptians to make a mark on the competition went against history since billiards is the only discipline in the sport in which Egypt had a world champion. Egypt's Edmond Soussa won the title 10 consecutive times from 1928 to 1937.
Before leaving Hurghada, Rittman honoured the Chairman of Al- Ahram's Board of Directors and Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Nafie, Hurghada Governor Saad Abu Reida and the editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Al- Riyadi magazine, Ibrahim Hegazi, whose idea it was to hold the Eurocup outside. In appreciation of his efforts, Rittman gave Hegazi a life-time honourary membership in the European federation.
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