CAIRO: Egypt’s Bronze Medalist, Hesham Mesbah has his eye on the gold medal for the upcoming Olympics in London.
“It is my dream that I will pursue in the next four years, Mesbah told Daily News Egypt.
“I will do my very best to earn such an honor, and I hope I get all the help and assistance needed to reach my dream, Mesbah added.
Nevertheless, Mesbah strongly believes that he lost during the semi-final match against the world champion because of an unfair decision by the referees.
“It was a very close game, and we were tied until the last minute when the match referees gave an unfair point to my opponent, which has set the only difference, Mesbah told Daily News Egypt.
Mesbah explained that this was the most difficult experience throughout his career but his coach Basel El-Gharbawy helped him bounce right back.
“He lifted my morale and urged me to focus on the bronze medal, his encouragement helped me win the bronze, Mesbah said.
Mohamed Aly Rashwan, Egypt’s Judo silver medalist at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984 was among the match officials in Beijing and also guided Mesbah through his journey.
“As a former Olympic champion, he always encouraged me to focus and fight until the last moment, and most importantly to maintain a positive mindset, Mesbah said.
Mesbah has officially joined the Olympic Champion program, under the supervision of the National Sports Council and in collaboration with the Judo Federation in 2005 after achieving a fifth place in the weight class of 90 kg during the World Championship that took place in the same year.
He noted that in the last three years since he joined the Olympic Champion program, he underwent an intensive training program set by El-Gharbawy, head coach of the National Team.
Mesbah considers El-Gharbawy one of his mentors, along with Abdel-Rahman Tanzania, head coach at Al-Shams club, and Yousry Zaghloul the junior National Team’s head coach.
“I was very fortunate to have El-Gharbawy as the head coach over the last six years, during which I came at fifth place twice at the World Championship in 2005 and in 2007. His vigorous character and the fact that we belong to the same age group created a common platform of mutual understanding, furthermore he has helped me a lot in boosting my stamina to bear 10 hours of training everyday, Mesbah said.
“He also played a key role in enhancing my concentration abilities for long periods as well as strengthening my mental abilities required in hard-fought matches, which proved to be a vital factor, Mesbah told Daily News Egypt.
He added that Zaghloul on the other hand was the first to provide him with the game insights required to compete on the international level, where as Tanzania was able to maintain his technical form when training camps were not available for the national teams.
Mesbah was driven by his brother Hany and started playing Judo at the age of 9 in Ittihad Club in Alexandria where he was born.
“My entire family and my brother specifically helped me become so passionate about Judo, and under the guidance of my first coach Fathy El-Gebily, the passion grew stronger, Mesbah was quoted.
Mesbah, who studied at the Arab Academy for Science & Technology and Maritime Transport, said his professors were very flexible when it came to training camps for which he had to travel for long periods of time.
At the age of 26, Mesbah is already paving the way for the current national Judo team. He said that for the first time in years Egypt has a number of talented athletes namely: Islam El Shehaby, Amin El Hady as well as Samah Ramadan, all of which have come in the seventh and ninth ranks, which he regards as a worthy achievement given the fact that this is their first appearance in the Olympic Games.
