Egypt's pentathletes are confident of building on their success in the World Modern Pentathlon Cup (Stage 2), held in Cairo two weeks ago, when Egyptian golden girl Aya Medany grabbed the bronze medal. Medany had grabbed the gold medal in the World Modern Pentathlon Cup (Stage 1), staged one month ago in Mexico. She is now world number 3. The Cairo tournament was hosted by the Egyptian Federation of Modern Pentathlon (EFMP) and the governmental National Sports Council (NSC), under the supervision of the international federation, the UIPM. "The tournament witnessed fierce competition among the 27 countries represented by more than 130 athletes," Mohamed el-Demerdash Touni, the EFMP President, told the Egyptian Mail in an interview. The modern pentathlon is a sporting contest consisting of five events: pistol shooting, fencing, 200m freestyle swimming, show jumping and a 3km run. Touni explained that the national men's team for the tournament included Amr el-Gezari, Yasser Hefni, Islam Hamed and Mohamed Eid, among others, while the women's team included Aya Medany, Yasmine Khaled, Reem el-Sayyed, Nada Ashraf, Gihan el-Medani and Rana Essam. "In the world of modern pentathlon, with its variety of locations and unique competition style, a player can be great one day and bad the next," said Touni. He has added that the main aim of the federation in the near future is to win a medal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Egypt has already secured two places (one male and one female) at the Olympic Games for Youth, due to be held in Singapore next August. "We are pinning our hopes on Jihan el-Medani and Islam Hamed at the Singapore Olympic Games," the official added. "These two promising youth athletes are now in a closed preparation camp for three weeks, getting ready for the coming events," said Touni, stressing that there is a strong spirit of competition in the pentathlon. The Egyptian Youth team will participate in the Youth World Cup in June in Sweden. Touni explained that the federation was not satisfied with what had been achieved and was waiting for more, especially in the forthcoming World Cup stages. "The Egyptian athletes still have two more stages of the World Cup, one in Hungary in May and the other in June in Germany, before the World Cup finals in Russia in July," Touni explained, adding that Egypt will participate in Hungary with four boys and four girls. He said that the international federation's higher committee would decide which athletes would qualify for the final in Russia, relying on the best three results of each player in the five stages of the World Cup. "Each country can enter no more than three athletes for the World Cup final in Moscow in July," Touni stressed. "Aya Medany was wonderful in Stage 1 in Mexico and in Stage 2 in Cairo. She was like a machine on the firing range, performing almost exactly the same each time [six shots and five green lights in 40 seconds]. She'll soon be the world's number one, as she was last year." Medany, who came eighth in the 2008 Beijing Games, won eight medals in World Cup from 2002 till 2009: three golds, three silvers and two bronzes. The 19-year-old athlete also claimed the gold medal in the women's modern pentathlon competition in the 11th Pan-Arab Games held in Egypt in November 2007, as well as grabbing silver in the World Senior Championships last year in Budapest, Hungary. The golden girl tripped up in the pistol shooting competitions, affecting her final points tally. "Competitors earn points for their performances in each of the five events. The total points scored in the first four events determine the starting order for the final event," said the official. Naturally, Touni wants his pentathletes to maintain their international standards. "We are now on the top in the Arab and African championships, as Medany grabbed gold in the World Cup held in Mexico," he said proudly. There are more than 90 national federations for the modern pentathlon throughout the five continents. In recent years, the number of countries and continents winning medals in the world championships has dramatically increased. The EFMP, established in 1975, joined the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) in 1976. "The EFMP has a broad plan for increasing the number of people practising this sport in Egypt.” According to Touni, the ideal adult age for the modern pentathlete is between 22 and 28. He stressed that the EFMP was working hard to expand this sport all over Egypt. "In order to develop and promote the game, we should gauge the standard of our athletes and start from there," said Touni, who is a member of the UIPM. "The technical committee at the federation regularly watches all the juniors performing in local competitions and, if they're good enough, they select them for the first national teams. "We already have around 1,500 registered athletes in the federation, from five regions with around 25 clubs ��" Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, Port Said and el-Mansoura," said Touni. The modern pentathlon was invented by the Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. It has been an Olympic discipline since 1912. The official added that the Egyptian team had many young shooting young stars such as Yasser Hefni, Moustaf Nofal, Ali Gomaa, Jihan el-Medani and Eslam Hamed. Meanwhile, our golden girl, Medany, says that she's happy with her recent bronze medal. "No athlete ever wins gold every time. Therefore I am satisfied with the bronze," adds the female star, who promises better in the fourth stage of the World Championship in Hungary next month. Medany started her long journey in 1999 when she was only 11 years old. At this young age, she ranked 15th in the Junior European Pentathlon Championship, held in Poland. She explains that she is training very hard for the World Championship. This is because local competitions aren't enough to prepare for such a big event. Medany, who is a student at the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport, emphasises that the modern pentathlon isn't an easy sport. Medany claimed the gold medal in the women's modern pentathlon competition at the 11th Pan-Arab Games held in Egypt in November 2007. Syria got silver, while Lebanon settled for bronze. She also won the gold medal at the World Championship for Women, held in China in September 2007.
