Egypt is expected to dominate the Modern Pentathlon African Championships that takes place on Saturday at New Cairo's Fifth Settlement district, the head of the sport's Egyptian federation said. "All the African countries are afraid of participating because they know quite well that the results won't be in their favor. Egypt's penathletes will dominate the top three positions," Sherif El-Arian told Ahram Online. South Africa will be Egypt's sole competitor in the tournament, which will be held on one day from 8 am to 8 pm. The tournament's importance lies in it being an Olympic qualifying event. Only gold medalists will earn automatic qualification for the 2020 Games in Tokyo. Only two qualifying tickets are available for those who finish on top in each event. Each country will have eight participants, four in each category (male and female). "South Africa is the only rival for Egypt," added El-Arian. "African countries don't have any chances to qualify for the Olympics through the African Championship or even achieve any medals, given the gulf in quality between them and the penathletes they compete against." "Egypt will no doubt win all three top places in the male and female categories." Egypt's female penathletes team includes Haidy Adel, Sondous Tarek, Salma Abdel-Maksoud, Amira Kandil as well as substitute penathletes Noureen Boulos and Mariam Amer. The male team includes Islam Hamed, Ahmed Osama El-Gendy, Mohannab Tarek and Sherif Yasser in addition to Sherif Nazeir and Nourelddin Karim as substitutes. El-Gendy is doubtful for the tournament, however, after picking up a back injury. "After examination, the doctor recommended that he takes a rest for five days before playing again," El-Arian said. "May be he is not going to compete in the African championships to get ready for the 2019 Pentathlon World Cup I in Cairo." img alt='Egypt's Modern Pentathlon female team ' title='Egypt's Modern Pentathlon female team ' src='http://english.ahram.org.eg/Media/News/2019/2/22/2019-636864645650610387-61.jpg' / Egypt's Modern Pentathlon female team img alt='Egypt's Modern Pentathlon male team ' title='Egypt's Modern Pentathlon male team ' src='http://english.ahram.org.eg/Media/News/2019/2/22/2019-636864646132094034-209.jpg' / Egypt's Modern Pentathlon male team (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
