CAIRO: The Egyptian Weightlifting Federation has unanimously decided to strike off its register two high-profile weightlifters during a board meeting on Monday.
Nahla Ramadan, a former world youth champion, and Esmat Mansour, who has secured a fifth place in the 2005 Women’s World Championship, have failed to attend the training camp of the national team since last July.
They have not attended the camp since their return from the All-Africa Games in Algeria, where each weightlifter struck three gold medals for Egypt.
“It is a valuable lesson for any weightlifter who lacks discipline and commitment, Mohamed Mahmoud, president of the Egyptian Weightlifting Federation told Daily News Egypt.
Fathy Zurieq, the federation’s treasurer and head of the technical committee, explained that the two weightlifters had drafted a plea to join the national team, but it was rejected due to their non-professional attitude over the last eight months.
“They would be deprived of the honor of representing Egypt in any upcoming competitions. Furthermore, all their financial rewards have now been ceased, Zurieq added.
Sources close to the Sport National Council indicated that full authority was given to the federation to pass the decision.
The world ranking of the two weightlifters has suffered: Ramadan’s rank has slipped to number 10, while Mansour’s has dropped to number 16.
According to Zurieq, there are plenty of promising talents that could replace Ramadan and Mansour, such as Abeer Abdel Rahman, who competes in the same weight category as Nahla, 75+ kg, Afaf Ibrahim in the heavyweight, and Aya Hamed in the 53 kg.
Ramadan and Mansour’s hopes of attaining medals in the upcoming summer Olympic Games in Beijing have now been dashed.
