Egypt's modern pentathlon athletes are the new world team champions at the 2016 UIPM Senior World Championships. The team of Yasser Hefni and brothers Omar and Amro Al-Geziri overpowered the world champions at the men's individual competition to lead the teams with 4,473 points, far ahead of Russia and France who came second and third respectively. The Russian team of Aleksander Lesun, Egor Puchkarevskiy and Maksim Kustov had won a medal at every World Championships since 2010. They came second with 3,300 points while the French trio of Valentib Prades, Valenti Belaud and Christopher Patte came third with 2,996 points. The Al-Geziri brothers put in strong performances in the early stages but suffered fadeouts in the final two events of the day, failing to make the podium at the individual event. However, they were placed from fourth to sixth: Omar, Yasser and Amro. According to the rules of UIPM, recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the world governing body for the sport, the points are added up in the end of the men's individual event to name the winning team. In swimming, Amro took first place after a hard-fought battle against Britain' James Cooke and Russia's Kustov. The Egyptian finished in 1:56:50, just ahead of Cooke's 1:57:57 and third-placed Kustov's 1:59:16. In fencing, it was Omar, the elder brother, who took first place, winning 25 times and securing 258 points. His closest rival Jung (KOR) managed 24 wins and 250 points, in a confident start to a consistently strong day. In riding, Amro saw his challenge hit the skids but Omar managed to take maximum points, allowing him to go through as the leader in the combined event. “We are so proud of our team,” Sherif Al-Erian, president of the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation, said. “This is the greatest achievement ever for the Egyptian modern pentathlon in the World Senior Championships. Winning the men's team gold medal is an outstanding achievement. “This year has been so successful for the modern pentathlon especially with Amro's gold medal at the World Cup I held in Egypt and then Omar's silver medal, followed by two silver medals in the mixed relay at the World Cup. “These achievements have qualified us to the Olympic Games where we are looking forward to a better performance and hopefully target a medal,” Al-Erian said.
