Egypt claimed the 23rd Speedball World Championship title for the 23rd time, reports Ahmed Morsy Egyptian speedball players maintained their dominance of the sport, claiming eight gold medals in the men's and women's competitions of the 23rd Speedball World Championship held in Cairo on Saturday. Two hundred players from 12 countries participated in the two-day championship played in Nasr City club's indoor hall. The hierarchy in the world championships was and remains Egypt, France and Japan, the pillars of the International Speedball Federation (FISB) which was founded in 1984 by the three countries. Several other countries later joined the FISB including Austria, Slovenia, Denmark, Sweden, the United States, Nigeria and Indonesia. Speedball was founded and introduced to the world in 1961 by Mohamed Lotfi, a former president of the Egyptian Speedball Federation. Recently, India, Lebanon and Kuwait joined the FISB while seven more countries will enter the federation this year, says Ahmed Lotfi, FISB president. Speedball utilities are only a rubber ball, which is attached to a five-foot-long monofilament nylon cord fastened to a ring that rotates freely around a spool, and a racket. The one-piece rubber ball's special design enables it to travel at speeds nearing 190 km/h and from here the intelligent naming of the game came. The relatively small place requirements of a speedball court and the ease of carrying its utilities make it ideal for indoor, outdoor as well as beach grounds. For those who do not know the first thing about speedball, it is played by one player, or two or four (two against two). Recently the team relay competition was introduced. Hence, there are four types of competitions: mixed relay, supersolo, singles, and doubles. In the supersolo for men Egyptians Yasser Hefni, Ali Adel Emam and Mohamed Emad snatched the first three spots. Hefni set a new world record of 593 shots. In the women's supersolo, Egypt also claimed the first three places. Nada Mamdouh, who set a new world record of 523 shots, came first, Asmaa Hassan second and Sherine Nasser third. In the mixed-relay competition, Islam Shaalan, Omar Yasser, Noha Abdel-Aziz and Manar Ibrahim brought the gold home, while silver went to France and the bronze to Japan. The double mix's gold medals were for Ahmed Fawzi and Radwa Tmoum from Egypt while Christophe Marchal and Celine Lacombe from France claimed the silver medal. Japan came third as Haruya Susaki and Yukina Nishikiori came up with the bronze. In the double women's standings, Egypt also came first through Sara Abdullah and Norhan Abdel-Salam. Pauline Rodriguez and Celine Lacombe from France came second while Japan as usual took third via Ayako Takahashi and Tomoko Yamaguchi. As for the double men's event, Egypt's Ahmed Hani and Mustafa El-Helali got the gold medals while France's Christophe Marchal and Gregory Lacombe the silver. Yuki Okabayashi and Daiki Okabayashi from Japan came third. In the single men's competitions, Egypt's Nabil Adel Emam took first place from the French player Gregory Lacombe who came second while the Japanese Yuta Susaki claimed the bronze. In the single women, Egypt's Roaa El-Helali got the gold medal, the silver went to France's Lucie Chassagrande while Japan was in their reserved third place thanks to Satomi Ishida. "Being the homeland of the sport, Egypt needs to exert more effort in order to make it known. We hope that one day speedball will be an Olympic sport," Lofti told Al-Ahram Weekly. "We, as a federation, had many discussions with other countries to publicise speedball but rarely did we get a response because of the lack of support of the Egyptian government. However, support has begun to be felt." "To be an Olympic game, the sport should be authorised in at least 30 countries in the five continents. We have reached 14 countries in three continents. We don't have North and South America or Australia." "We cannot reach the target alone without the government's support and the High Council of Sports. If we can make speedball an Olympic game, I guarantee that Egypt will win eight gold medals in every Olympic Games. So, we need to attract more countries to the FISB. "The newcomers countries need no motivation to join us. Speedball is a new and low-cost sport which doesn't need expensive facilities. We offer seminars, training courses, coaches and CDs which illustrate to them how to be professional in such a sport," Lotfi said. Sudan participated for the first time in the 23rd Speedball World Championship one year after establishing a local federation. "We signed an Egyptian coach following cooperation between us and the Egyptian and international speedball federations," Sudanese Minister of Youth and Sports Mohamed Abu Zeid told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Our players trained only 15 days before the championship after just recently establishing the Sudanese federation. "Though we came this year only to participate and nothing more, most observers said the Sudanese team will have a fruitful future since they have the talent needed for the sport. We have speedball in Sudan but under a different name and it's very popular," Abu Zeid added. From speedball to football, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) announced that Sudan was one of the three countries Egypt would like to host a play-off with Algeria if the 14 November World Cup qualifier ends with a draw in points. "We appreciate it. Sudan and Egypt have a good relationship in football. If the ties between Algeria and Egypt are based on Arab unity, Egypt and Sudan have been united since their childhood," Abu Zeid added.
