Invitation to a ball

It is a fact of life that one learns through experience, grows through experience, and gains expertise via experience. The World Cup is no exception, and the most viable candidate to host this historic event -- the first time it touches down on African soil -- is the one, clearly, with all of the above.

Egypt is widely known as a well-groomed host. In football alone, the country has hosted three African Nations Cups -- in 1959, 1974 and 1986, when over 100,000 spectators packed Cairo Stadium for the Egypt-Cameroon final, the record for the highest spectator turnout in the history of African championships.

The U-17 World Championship in 1997 was played before a booming crowd on Egypt's national turf -- marking the first time an African nation staged a FIFA event. The three-week tournament drew half-a-million spectators, a record that holds until today.

And in "mini" form, so-to-speak, the smaller version of football -- futsal, or five-a-side soccer -- which is a hugely popular pastime on Egypt's streets, took on official form under the patronage of Al-Ahram, when the first international friendly was hosted in 2002.

Ball games in general are Egypt's strong point. In 1999, Egypt became the first African nation to host the World Handball Championship. Egypt finished seventh while Sweden took home the trophy, beating Russia in the final that President Hosni Mubarak watched closely from the stands.

Six years earlier, the World Junior Championship came to Cairo -- when a record crowd of 40,000 saw Egypt beat Denmark in the final at Cairo Stadium's indoor complex.

Egypt's bounce remains strong when it comes to racket sports, with both tennis and squash having global claims of their own. The Egyptian tennis arena has long been known to bring over international greats, with annual satellite tournaments continuing to attract the world's top 50 players. In 1998, Al-Ahram brought tennis stars Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Anna Kournikova, Olga Baratshova and Maria Sanchez -- the "Fab Four" -- to the foot of the Pyramids for a showcase event.

The Pyramids, in fact, has been witness to several such splendourous sports occasions, one of which was Al-Ahram's first International Squash Championship, which took place in 1996. There were also other glorious settings in front of which the world's top-10 pros played: the 1998 Squash Grand Prix was held at the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, with players competing in the sun and fresh air on a high-tech glass court in the middle of an island -- definitely the first of its kind.

The World Squash Championship came to Cairo in 1999, with the national team coming fourth, and countryman Ahmed Barada -- of the world's top five players -- emerging as a finalist in the singles. At the end of 2003, Egypt played host to the Women's Junior World Championship, in which Egypt collected both the team and singles titles -- rising star Omnaya Abdel-Kawy hogging the international media spotlight and headlines.

Specific sports aside, however, Egypt is a creator in itself when it comes to the uniting of athletes: In 1951, Egypt's Mohamed Taher Pasha hosted the inaugural Mediterranean Games. Modern days have brought uniting events of their own, with Cairo having the honour of hosting the premier All-Africa Continental Championship in 1991.

The list goes on... Egypt, it could be said, has been "host of the most": The World Junior Volleyball Championship; the World Waterpolo Championship; the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship; the World Judo Junior Championship; the World Junior Synchronised Swimming Championship; the World Taekwondu Championship; the World Shooting Championship; the World Bodybuilding Championship; and the World Billiards Championship.

The future holds a spectrum of yet more bright and glittering events -- in 2004 Egypt will host the African Nations Handball Cup. In 2005, Egypt is scheduled to hold the World Judo Championship, and in 2006 the African Nations Cup in football. 2009 will see the Confederations Cup being played on the banks of the Nile.