A fortnight of nothing
The Egyptian national women's volleyball team takes on Turkey today at the beginning of the fourth and final stage of the Women's Volleyball World Cup in Japan.
Inas Mazhar reports
As the fourth and final stage of the Cup commences, the Egyptian team stands with a record table of no wins -- having lost every match thus far in the 15-day tournament. A new day may in theory bring new promise -- Egypt taking on the Dominican Republic -- who joined the tournament on a wild card, together with Italy, to make-up the 12 competing teams.
The tournament, which concludes Saturday with Egypt facing Poland, plays host to 12 women's and men's teams from around the world. Playing in cities across Japan, the matches offer a fast plane ticket into the Olympics in Athens 2004.
Teams are divided regionally: hosts Japan, continental champions and vice champions from Europe, Asia, Oceania and South America, continental champion from Africa plus two wild card teams nominated jointly by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and the Japan Volleyball Association. Teams play a single-round robin format, in two parallel groups (Site A and Site B). The women playing in Tokyo, Nagoya, Sapporo, Osaka, Kagoshima, Sendai and Toyama and the men's tournament which will follow the women's from 16 to 30 November will take place in Tokyo, Horoshima, Fukuoka, Nagano, Hamamatsu and Okayama.
Egypt's women flew to Japan with high hopes and spirits -- the goal of an Olympic spot edging most partaking athletes on. Destiny, however, is hard to tamper with, and Egypt lost all its matches 3-0.
In the first round in Tokyo, Egypt lost to Italy, hosts Japan, then Argentina. In the second round in Nagoya, Egypt's women lost two matches, to the USA and Korea. The women's team then moved to Toyama for the third round, where it lost three consecutive games to Brazil, Cuba and China.
The divide in standard of play between Egypt and its counterparts was clear, but the fighting spirit of the Egyptians was one which brought them applause -- exciting rallies in opening and closing sets driving many fans to the edge of their seats.
Team Captain Tahani Tosson was Egypt's primary weapon, displaying enough powerful hitting and subtle touches at the net to keep opponent defense on its toes. Part of her support was the offense of 18-year-old Noran Sharaf and the spectacular setting of Yosra Selim.
Japan is the traditional host of the tournament since its inception in 1970, bringing to the competition some of the finest state-of-the-art sports complexes in the world, as well as a passion for the sport of Volleyball that spans decades.
But the intensity of the sports presence -- and hence the nation's role as the Wimbledon of volleyball -- has led players to take extremes to excel. An official statement by the FIVB announced that for the first time in Volleyball history a player tested "positive", with a sample "A" showing the presence of Methandienone. The player in question, Nurys Arias Done from the Dominican Republic, was officially informed and heard in the presence of a gathering of senior FIVB officials and Dominican Republic team management.
Arias Done confirmed having taken some vitamins and tablets for appetite. Their effect on |Methandienone levels has not yet been released.
In accordance with FIVB regulations, the player is immediately excluded from the competition and the Dominican Republic loses the match (Dominican Republic against China) 0-3, as well as all other matches in which the player took part. The team may continue playing without the player and the remaining matches will not be affected.
After the game against China, however, the player partook in the team's next match against Brazil until the second test result came in. Again, the tests came in positive, forcing the FIVB to suspend the player for two years with immediate effect.
The player and the federation have the right to appeal to the FIVB Board of Administration within 30 days if they so wish.
"The FIVB is engaged in a firm and permanent battle against doping in sport and in this fight we are drawing a player from each team in almost all of the matches in the World Cups 2003," said FIVB President Dr Rubén Acosta, who was present in Sapporo.
Whether the men too are turning to drugs awaits to be seen. Egypt's men's national men team flew to Japan for a one-week training camp in Ossaka in preparation for the Men's World Cup. The national team will play several friendly matches with local teams. Egypt was selected by FIVB and the hosts Japan to take part in the tournament along with Serbia and Montenegro as wild cards.
The competition is expected to be grueling, with Tunisia -- winner of the African Nations Cup held in Egypt last August beating Egypt 3-0 at home -- representing Africa in the 15-day tournament. Competition format has resulted with the national team will play its opener against the hosts in Tokyo. The following day Egypt will play against Canada, then Serbia. The pharaohs will face China and USA in the second round in Hiroshima before moving to Okayama to meet France, Italy and Brazil in the third round. In the fourth round, Egypt will return to Tokyo where it will face Korea, archrivals Tunisia and Venezuela.
The men, at this point, have one sole hope; not to face the same succession of zeros that their female counterparts have encountered.
