The third of four events in the 2022 FIG Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup series, featuring the world’s top female and male artistic gymnasts, is to kick off in Cairo on Thursday, in an opening ceremony that will be attended by a number of state officials.
The tournament will run from 17 to 20 March, and will take place at the Indoor Halls Complex of the Cairo International Stadium. The tournament acts as qualifiers to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
It is expected that the opening ceremony will be attended by Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhy; Head of the Handball International Federation Hassan Mostafa; President of the International Gymnastics Federation Morinari Watanabe; executive members of the GIF, and heads of regional federations.
The second World Cup to be held in the Egyptian capital during the past two years has attracted tremendous interest from gymnasts in Africa and the Middle East.
Sobhy said that the precautionary measures that Egypt has followed whilst hosting other international sports championships during the last period has ensured the country holds a unique position to host such championships.
The Supreme Organizing Committee of the tournament, headed by Ihab Amin, President of the Egyptian and African Federations of Gymnastics, was keen to follow up on all the preparations for the tournament.
The Egyptian Federation held a press conference on Wednesday to announce the details of the tournament.
The event will witness the participation of 281 players representing 35 countries: Egypt, Ukraine, Albania, Algeria Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Morocco, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Slovenia, Turkey, America, Uzbekistan, India, and Qatar.
Up to two gymnasts per country on each apparatus will look to secure individual event titles. Qualifications for men’s floor exercise, pommel horse, and still rings will take place Thursday, 17 March with the top eight gymnasts advancing to Saturday’s apparatus finals. Men’s vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar qualifications are slated for Friday, 18 March with the corresponding event finals to follow Sunday. There is no team competition for this event.
Egyptians competing this weekend include Zeina Sharaf, one of two Tokyo 2020 Olympians from Egypt, veteran Nancy Taman, fourth on Vault at the 2021 World Championships, and Jana Mahmoud, a promising 17-year-old who made Uneven Bars and Balance Beam finals at last year’s Doha World Cup. Tokyo 2020 Olympian Omar Mohamed and Still Rings star Ali Zahran helm the efforts of the six-man Egyptian contingent.
