Egyptian athletes has proved themselves by sweeping the 12th African Games currently held in Rabat, Morocco from 19 to 31 August, witnessing the participation of 52 countries.
Egypt is participating in the tournament with a mission of 297 players, including 177 male and 120 female athletes in 28 games, of which 26 are Olympic, including 3×3 basketball, archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, canoeing, chess, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, gymnastics, handball, judo, karate, rowing, shooting, snooker, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling. Seventeen of these games serve as pre-qualifiers to the 2020 Olympic Games.
Egypt topped the ranking winning 142 medals, including 40 gold, 64 silver, and 38 bronze until 27 August. South Africa came second with 56 medals, including 25 gold, 17 silver, and 14 bronze. Morocco came third with 71 medals: 22 gold, 21 silver, and 28 bronze, followed by Nigeria with 49 medals: 20 gold, 13 silver, and 16 bronze.
Mamdouh Sheshtawy, executive director of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, said the committee planned to win 195-200 medals at the African Games in Morocco.
“We have so far achieved 142 medals, and this shows that the plan of the Olympic Committee is going well. I must thank the Egyptian Swimming Federation, as it has achieved the most gold medals in the championship.”
Egypt also won gold medals in Judo by Ramadan Darwish, Ali Hazem, and Mohamed Abdel Rahman. In swimming competitions, Egyptians were also victorious as Ahmed Akram won two gold medals, Hania Moro got four gold medals, and each of Nour El Gendy, Marwan Al Khemash, Aly Khalaf Allah, Mohamed Sami, Farida Osman won two gold medals.
Egypt also won the gold medal in beach volleyball for females, represented by Farida Al Askalany and Doaa Al Ghobashy.
In Taekwondo, the gold medals went to Hedaya Malak and Maison Tolba.
Egypt also snagged gold medals in 1,000 metres rowing for mixed teams, and table tennis for men, women, and mixed teams (Omar Assar and Dina Moshref).
The Pharaohs won more gold in triathlon, mixed and individual chess by Ahmed Adly and Shorouk Wafa, athletics by Ahmed Shehab, shooting by Ahmed Qamar and Magy Ashmawy, weightlifting by Ahmed Saad (3 gold medals), karate by Yasmin Hamdy and Malik Salama, and gymnastics for women by Farah Ahmed, and fencing by Alaa Abu al-Qasim.
Silver medal winners included Gentan El Askry in billiards; Abdel Khalek El-Banna (two medals), Darine Hegazy (two medals), and Ahmed Abdel Khalek in rowing; and Farida Othman (two medals), Youssef El Kamash (three medals), Marawan El Kamash (two medals), Aly Khalaf Allah (two medals), Mohamed Samy, and Yassin El Shamaa in swimming.
The silver winners also included the 4×100m freestyle relay for men, 100m freestyle for women, 200m freestyle for women, 100m freestyle relay for mixed teams, 400m freestyle men and women, 100m men, 100m freestyle relay women.
In taekwondo, Abdulrahman Darwish, Salah El Din Khairy, Nour Abdulsalam, Moaz Ezzat, Seif Issa, Abdul Rahman Wael, Radwa Nada, and Rawan Refaey all won silver medals.
Egypt also won silver in equestrian teams; billiards by Abdel Rahman Haridy; table tennis for mixed teams by Ahmed Saleh and Farah Hassan, and men teams by Ahmed Saleh and Mohamed El-Bialy; weightlifting by Heba Ahmed (two medals), Basma Ibrahim (three medals), Israa Ahmed, and Neama Saied.
In addition, silver also went to Egypt in 3×3 basketball; fencing by Moataz Medhat, Noha Hany, and Sara Nono; Karate by Sara Essam, Ahmed Shawky, Radwa Sayed, Abdullah Mamdouh, Ferial Ashraf, and Menna Shaaban; team and individual gymnasts for women by Farah Sayed; athletics by Mohamed Magdy, Mostafa Ramadan, and Fatma El-Bendary; and Chess by Bassem Ibrahim.
For bronze winners, they included Mohamed Abdul Mawjood, Abdullah Othman, Kariman Kamel, and Lamia Hassan in judo; Maryam Abdel Latif (two medals) and Mohammed Kouta in rowing; Mohamed Hassan and Yassin Al Shamaa (two medals), Ahmed Salem (two medals), Marwan El Kamash (two medals), Sara Soleiman, Rawan El-Damaty, and Ahmed Akram in swimming; billiards teams; Menna Abdullah in taekwondo; badminton mixed teams; and table tennis for mixed teams by Reem Khaled and Mohamed El-Bialy as well as Dina Moshref and Yousra Helmy in table tennis women teams.
The bronze winners list extends to triathlon mixed team; Mohab Samir, Yara El Sharkawy, Mohamed Ashour, and Nardin Ehab in fencing; Taha Tarek, Ali Ismail, and Jianna Farouk in karate; Bassant Hamida and Dina Al Tabbaa in athletics; Esraa Ahmed and Neama Saied (2 medals) in weightlifting; and finally Ahmed Elhamy in gymnastics.
The African Games have been held every four years since 1965, previously under the names All-Africa Games and Pan African Games.
Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic games first conceived the idea, but the games are now organised by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) and the Association of African Sports Confederations (AASC).
