EGYPT'S modern pentathlete Amr Al-Geziri finished in fifth place in the modern pentathlon World Cup which ended in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, reports Ghada Abdel-Kader. All together 72 athletes representing 23 nations took part in the five-day event. Egypt participated with four athletes: Yasser Hefni, Islam Hamed and the brothers Omar and Amr Al-Geziri. Both Hamed and Amr Al-Geziri made it to the semi-finals which were held on Saturday. But it was Amr who joined the world's top 10 after a tough competition with the world's best athletes. Amr was runner-up in the swimming event, ninth in fencing, and second in the equestrian. After these three disciplines he collected the points that would guarantee him fourth place before going for the combined discipline (shooting & running). In the final discipline, Amr was fifth with a total of 5,632 points, only 32 behind the third place winner and the eventual bronze medalist. His teammate Hamed ended up in 35th place. First place went to Hungary's Adam Marousi with 5,768 points. Second place went to Latvia's Dennis Sercovic with 5,716 points while third place went to France's Valentine Bradice with 5,660 points. Russia's Sergey Karikin was fourth with 5,640 points ahead of Al-Geziri. The Brazil World Cup was the second stage of the modern pentathlon World Cup. The first was held in the US while the third will be held in China next month. The fourth is scheduled to be held in May in Hungary. The best 36 athletes in all four events will qualify for the final stage -- the fifth -- to be held in Russia.
