Heliopolis Sporting Club’s diver Ahmed Salem won gold for the under-13 division in the Senet Diving Cup, which took place in the Netherlands at the Pieter van den Hoogenband Swim Stadium from 4 to 7 February
This is a great victory for Salem as the Senet Diving Cup, formerly known as Eindhoven Diving Cup, is the largest international annual diving competition in Europe. About 250 swimmers from 20 countries competed, Egypt being the only Arab or African country participating in this prestigious championship.
HSC has established itself with both skilled teams and individuals in swimming, water polo and diving.
In the 24th Heliopolis International Water Polo and Synchronised Swimming Tournament, held at HSC from 16 to 20 September 2015, HSC’s water polo team competed against the Hungarian clubs of Szentes and KSI, the Serbian club Partizan, and the German club Potsdam.
The first two places went to Szentes and Partizan, respectively, with HSC coming in third. HSC is keen to host these highly successful Eastern European teams, including the Serbian and Hungarian teams, in order to give their Egyptian team the chance to compete against such skilled swimmers to see the standard at which they perform as well as to gain experience and motivation to improve.
Haroun Touny, HSC Chairman has previously said, “unfortunately we were unable to invite teams from the US and Canada as Egypt’s current financial circumstances has resulted in a lack of sponsors to cover their expenses”.
The Senet Diving Cup will not be the last diving competition to be held in the Netherlands this year; Amsterdam will host the 21st Amsterdam Diving Cup from 14 to 17 April 2016. These competitions will be celebrated at the Sloteparkbad, which features an indoor pool with two 1m and two 3m Maxiflex springboards as well as3m, 5m, 7 1/2m, and 10m platforms.
