The ParaVolley Federation has become a separate entity in the Egyptian Paralympic Committee, reports Abeer Anwar. For the past year, the ParaVolley Egypt board had been trying to win the approval for independence from the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports and World ParaVolley. The board is headed by Hossameddin Mustafa, Gamal Heliel vice president, Emad Ramadan treasurer and Azza Turk, Ihab Hassanein, Said Idris and Abdel-Fattah Hassan as members. At the same time, Egypt's Youth and Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhi, together with World ParaVolley President Barry Couzner and Japanese Ambassador to Egypt Masaki Noki inaugurated ParaVolley Egypt by attending the Super Cup. Port Said's Al-Horreya beat Alexandria's Al-Mustaqbal 3-2 with sets 26-24, 23-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-9. It was a difficult match for both teams as spectators were unable to guess who might be the winner. After the match, cups were awarded to the star players. Al-Horreya's Tamer Morgan was named best server and Al-Horreya's Hossam Massoud best playmaker. Best receptionist went to Al-Horreya's Salah Atta, best blocker Al-Mustakbal's Ahmed Khamis, best attacker Al-Mustakbal's Mohamed Al-Hennawi and the best player's cup went to Al-Horreya's Hesham Salah. “I congratulate all who worked hard to make the day a success,” Sobhi said. “Egypt has always been a pioneer in Paralympics and Para sports. Our Paralympic athletes have always raised Egypt's name in the international, world and Paralympic Games and that is the reason why I directed that their medals be equal to that of able-bodied athletes. I believe in them and I am backing them to win more medals in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.” The ParaVolley men's team took the bronze medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. In an exclusive interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Couzner said “it is a significant occasion and I am really fascinated that the Egypt ParaVolley Federation is to become independent. We have three types of federations. The first is related to Paralympic committees as Egypt used to be. The second are independent national federations, as Egypt is now and which represent 40 per cent of World ParaVolley, and the third type are the special organisations that serve people with disabilities. I am really honoured by the invitation I received from Egypt ParaVolley to attend the event and I am happy that I was able to make it. The most important thing about the event is that Egypt has been a dominant country in the African region for many years now and it is really an important country for Africa and for World ParaVolley, especially after Egypt's men's team won the bronze medal in the .” Asked if Egypt ParaVolley can do it again in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, Couzner was unhesitant. “Yes, of course. In the Paralympics we have eight men's teams and eight women's teams: a team for men and women from the host country (Japan), and the top four teams from the four world zones.” The Cup final match between Horreya (green) and Al-Mustaqbal (blue) On Egypt's women's ParaVolley team, Couzner said Egypt has a women's team “but it is not as strong as the men's but I think that the new federation will work hard on preparing a women's team that is on the same level with the men. It needs a lot of work but I am sure they can do it.” Couzner said the board at the World ParaVolley decided on two points to focus on in the future: the sitting volleyball programmes and Para Beach Volley. “We hope to have a world series programme for beach volley in the future and we are trying hard to catch up with the 2020 Paralympic Games.” He added, “we always give a hand to newly-formed Para Volley federations whenever we can through providing them with technical support and a range of referee and coaching courses. After signing a contract with Molten, the official provider of volleyballs, we have a number of volleyballs that we can provide to countries that run competitions. We get an annual grant from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and we use it to help beginning programmes.” As Egypt is bidding to host the African ParaVolley Championship in September and the 2020 Intercontinental Championship, Couzner said it was important that Africa hosts such an event “because there is still a vacancy for one team in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics ParaVolley competition and if Africa does not take it, it will go to another continent”. On the intercontinental event, “we have a number of countries that have bid for the event and I think it will be a tough competition among countries to host the championship”. Couzner declared that Egypt has the strongest men's team in Africa while Rwanda the best women's team. “In the Gulf and other Middle East countries, they are still forming their teams,” Couzner said. “I am very happy that Couzner, the minister and the Japanese ambassador attended the official inauguration and the Super Cup,” Emad Ramadan, Egypt ParaVolley treasurer, said. “We have exerted a lot of effort and I am grateful that it ended in such success. When you start with success, you continue to want to be better. We have a lot of plans for ParaVolley and the players and we have to widen the range of participants throughout the country. We also want to form a women's team that is as good as our men's. I thank all that lent a hand to make the day a real success,” Ramadan said.
