First female

Israa El-Sanhouri is the first woman to lead an Egyptian sports federation, Ghada Abdel-Kader reports

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El-Sanhouri at her new desk

Last month's elections were a tough battle for Israa El-Sanhouri. However, she won to become the first woman in Egypt's history elected to lead a major sports federation, in this case the Tennis Federation (ETF).

El-Sanhouri, who will lead the ETF for four years, was its vice-president from 2000-2004.

El-Sanhouri beat out her only challenger, Mohamed El-Sokari, six votes to four.

"Every new elected administrative board is expected to maintain and continue the journey of the previous board," El-Sanhouri told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Start from where the former board has ended.

"Technology goes so rapidly. Every day there is something new. In administration, the ministry of state for administrative development helped us in developing the use of computers and the Internet.

"The federation is carrying out training courses for coaches and referees. We are also organising training camps for the players inside and out of Egypt, working on increasing the number of international championships to 17 championships as well as the number of participating players," El-Sanhouri said.

El-Sanhouri said the federation was in the process of developing techniques adopted by the national championships in order to discover new talent.

"We are at the top of both the Arab and African levels. We are trying to reach the international level," added El-Sanhouri.

The General Assembly of the federation held a meeting with most of the clubs to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of increasing the number of players the in the governorates, making junior champions under 12 separate tournaments. and improving the current tennis league among clubs.

The federation's agenda is packed with upcoming tournaments. The ETF is preparing for the Davis Cup in March 2009. Karim Ma'moun and Sherif Sabri are representing. There is also the African Junior championship and Arab championship for men and women and juniors under 12, 13, 16 and 18.

El-Sanhouri, a member of El-Gezira Club, says tennis is the main sport in the club. She herself has been playing tennis since she was 18. Her children and husband share the same passion for the sport.

"It's is a beautiful game. I love it so much. Tennis is a suitable sport for all ages," El-Sanhouri said.