Despite little media coverage, Egyptians returned from Mozambique after finishing second in the 10th All-Africa Games, Inas Mazhar reports With an overall 70 medals, Egypt lost its dominance of the standings to South Africa, which came in first with 156 medals, 61 of them gold. For the past three decades, Egyptians had virtually reserved first place of the biggest sporting event on the continent, the All-Africa Games, held every four years. However, it seems only normal that Egypt would come out the bridesmaid this time in Mozambique. Egypt participated with only 104 male and female athletes in 13 sports. In the past, the delegation would comprise no less than 400 athletes. But budget constraints because of the current political situation of the country forced minimal participation. South Africa, by contrast, entered with a delegation of 503 athletes, almost five times that of Egypt, which allowed the South Africans to dominate the standings from the start of the two-week tournament. Egypt's 70 medals were 34 gold, 15 silver and 21 bronze. Table tennis was the most successful with a total of 11 medals -- four gold, two silver and five bronze. Tennis collected six medals, two of each colour. Taekwondo claimed seven medals: four gold, two silver and one bronze. Judo had five medals; two golds, two silver and one bronze. Swimming had only one gold medal as well as kayaking which took one bronze, and handball one gold medal. Chess collected 12 medals: seven gold, one silver and four bronze. Karate, too, garnered 12 medals -- six gold, four silver and two bronze. Athletics won seven medals; three gold, two silver and two bronze while handicapped athletes clinched a total of six medals, four gold and two bronze. According to the head of Egypt's delegation Seif Shahine, the results of the Egyptians were fair enough. "It's really an achievement. We took part with a small delegation not only because of the situation but because the Games had to strike out some sports which we are champions in, so Egypt lost the opportunity to win more medals. "Weightlifting, wrestling, shooting, fencing and gymnastics were all cancelled. And these are the sports that the Egyptians usually dominate. If they had been held, Egypt could have definitely claimed first place," Shahine said. Third place went to Nigeria, followed by Tunisia. The ranking was calculated considering the number of gold medals won. The Nigerians collected 32 gold medals while the Tunisians 26.
