First female

Egypt emerged victorious at the World Junior Modern Pentathlon Championship in Shanghai, China. Inas Mazhar reports

---

Click to view caption

Aya Medani and Yasmine Khaled in the running discipline

Egypt's Aya Medani was crowned the world junior championship in the women's event which included 32 participants from around the world competing in the five-day event.

The 17-year-old Medani collected 5,660 points to win first place. The champion claimed 1,120 points in the shooting discipline, 1,056 in fencing, 1,296 in swimming, 1,116 in horseback riding and 1,072 in running.

Teammates Yasmine Khaled and Reem El-Sayed failed to even come close to matching Ayah, coming in 30th and 31st place respectively. Khaled collected 4,712 points while El-Sayed garnered 4,604 points.

In the women's event, the Egyptian trio of Medani, Khaled and El-Sayed came in fifth with a total of 14,976 points behind Britain, China, Hungary and Russia.

In the women's team relay, Medani led her squad to third place and the bronze medal with 5,062. Britain and Bulgaria finished first and second.

Mena Tadros claimed the bronze medal in the men's event with a total of 5,400 points. Tadros score 1,024 points in shooting, 1,000 in fencing, 1,128 in swimming, 1,116 in horseback riding and 1,132 in running.

Amr El-Geziri came seventh with a total of 5,328 points.

Like the women, the men's team also took fifth place with 14,684 points behind the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Russia and Italy.

The men's team came last in the relay, ending up in 15th place with 3,902 points.

The team relay event is different from the team event. It consists of 16 teams of three athletes competing in a continuous relay completed in one day, not five. Each team member fires 10 shots, swims 100m, fences one opposing team member, runs 1,000m, and rides a horse over 8 x show jumps.

Shooting

All team members shoot 10 shots each, a total of 30 shots. 1,000 pentathlon points = 258 shooting points (maximum is 300 points). Every shooting point above or below 258 is worth 12 pentathlon points.

Fencing

Each team member fences one person in another team, but with three bouts (matches) instead of one as in the individual competition. If a team wins 70 per cent of all their matches they earn 1,000 p. Each victory above/below is worth +/-12 points.

Swimming

Relay 3x100 m (total 300 m).

Men, 3 min 15 s = 1,000 points. Women, 3 min 30 s = 1,000 points and +/- 4 points for 0.33 s above/below this time.

Riding

Show jumping, speed 350 metres/ minute, 9 single obstacles (no double or triple), maximum height 1.20 metre. Relay ride 3x350 metres. A fault free ride under the standard time 3 minutes will give the team 1,200 points.

For each second above that standard time the score is reduced with 4 points. A time above 4 minutes gives further deduction of 240 points and also 80 points for every not jumped obstacle.

Knockdown gives 16 points, refusal or disobedience to jump 20 points deduction. Any disobedience leading to the knocking down of an obstacle gives a 32-point deduction. An incorrect change over in the relay will give a 40-point deduction.

Running

Cross-country relay running 3x1500 metres, chase start.

Men, 14 min = 1000 p. Women, 15 min 30 s = 1000 p. +/- 4 p for every whole second above/below that time.

"Egypt is taking part in several international world championships as part of the federation's preparations for the World Cup in Cairo next month," Ahmed Nasser, president of the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation, who headed the Egyptian delegation in China, said.

"We are really happy with these outstanding results. It means we are going in the right direction towards winning and dominating the senior championships as well. That's our target," added Nasser.

The Egyptian team will head from China to Italy to take part in a world cup junior championship in Italy next week.