The five-day competition enters its second day with the men's qualifications taking place today at the Police Academy in New Cairo. The women's qualifications were scheduled to be held yesterday with Group A starting with fencing, swimming and combined event (shooting and running), while Group B began with swimming fencing and combined event (shooting and running). Competitions run from 8am to 5pm on the same day. Altogether 131athletes, 65 men and 66 women representing 28 countries, are taking part in the five-day World Cup from 2-6 April. The entries are Egypt, Argentina, Austria, Burkina Faso, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, Mauritius, Poland, Russia, Senegal, Spain, Ukraine and USA. The women's final will take place tomorrow, Friday, while the men's final will conclude on Saturday. Mixed relay teams competitions will be held on Sunday. Competitions will take place from 7am to 4pm. They will start with swimming, equestrian and combined events. “Thanks to the tremendous efforts of the Egyptian Federation of Modern Pentathlon (EFMP's) President and former Olympic penathlete, Sherif Al-Erian, Egypt is organising the 2014 World Cup Series Number Two,” EFMP Managing Director Mamdouh Al-Sheshtawi said. “The World Cup Series comprises five editions. Sherif presented an outstanding file and portfolio for Egypt to the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), offering all required facilities to host the competitions in Cairo, including accommodation, transportation, training playgrounds and the competition venues. Al-Erian's close relations with officials of different countries has helped in campaigning for Egypt and winning the most votes to be awarded the honour to host the second edition of the series on Egyptian soil. Russia was a great supporter of the Egyptian bid.” Al-Sheshtawi told Al-Ahram Weekly why the Police Academy was selected as a venue for the World Cup competition “It has extraordinary facilities for training, accommodation, transportation, an international standard swimming pool and equestrian stables and arena. There is close cooperation between us and all the police and armed forces institutions,” he said. “World Cup Two has not been held in Cairo for the last three years due to the political situation after the 25 January Revolution. The last time it was in Cairo was in the year 2010. The winners then were Lithuanian champion Edvinas Krungolcas, who captured the gold medal, and Russian Evdokia Gretchichnikova, who took first in the women's final. During the past three years, the World Cup Series was held in other countries. The choice mainly depends on voting from the countries on the host nation,” Al-Sheshtawi added. “In cooperation with the Police Sports Federation, Armed Forces and the Police Academy, the EFMP was provided with all the equestrian facilities needed, including the horses. I'd like to thank them all for their contribution and support to the federation and the event. The World Cup One was held in Acapulco, Mexico, but unfortunately the UIPM had to cancel this event because circumstances were unfavourable to the horses.” This year, four World Cup competitions will be held. The World Cup taking place in Cairo is the second in 2014. The first was due to be held earlier this month in Acapulco, Mexico, but was cancelled. The third will take place from 16-20 April in Chengdu, China. The fourth event will take place in Kecskemet, Hungary from 8-12 May. The points of the next three World Cup Series events in Egypt, China and Hungary will now count towards qualification to the World Cup Final in the USA. The World Cup Final will be held in Sarasota-Bradenton, USA from 6-8 June. A World Cup Series for both men and women has been running since 1990. Each year, between four to six World Cup competitions are organised. At the end of these competitions, there is a World Cup Final in which the best 36 male and female athletes compete. The athletes qualify for the Final via a league table (World Cup Standings) constructed from their three best World Cup Competitions. Assistant to the technical director of the Egyptian national team, Ihab Al-Sayed, said that Egypt will take part in the competitions with two men's and women's teams. “As a host country, Egypt is more privileged and therefore will participate with 12 athletes, while the other countries are allowed to contest with four athletes only,” he said. Egypt's men's team includes Amr Al-Geziri, Omar Al-Geziri, Yasser Hefni, Islam Hamed , Mohamed Youssef, Mohamed Ibrahim, Al-Hassan Al-Ghawas, Mustafa Nofel, Amr Hassan, Sherif Rashad and Ahmed Shahin. Replacement players are Sherif Hassan, Ahmed Hamed, Abdel-Rahman Korani, Youssef Yassin and Mustafa Badr. The women's team includes Haidi Adel, Sondous Tarek, Nour Abbas, Reem Hossameddin, Alaa Ashraf, Lamia Fathi, Hebatallah Ayman, Nourain Boulos, Nadine Youssef, Shorouk Mohamed, Hana Ihab and Maha Youssri. Substitute athletes are Touka Mohamed, Salma Ayman, Nada Al-Hodhod and Mariam Hassan. “The Egyptian team started their training plan since last January. Now, they are in a closed training camp for eight days at Sonesta Hotel. In the men's team, we have senior athletes, such as Amr, Omar and Hefini, but in women's team, we don't have senior athletes after the retirement of Aya Medani. All the pentathletes are juniors. Their ages are between 19 and 15. They are participating in the World Cup for the first time,” Al-Sayed revealed. “Our team will have furious competition from Russia, England, Hungary and France. We have good chances to achieve a medal in the men's team,” added Al-Sayed. The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport that has five events: fencing, 200m freestyle swimming, show jumping and a final combined event of pistol shooting and a 3,200m cross-country run. This sport has been a core sport of the Olympic Games since 1912. An annual world championship has been held since 1949.
