The Ismaili first team are preparing for next week's league clash with Masri despite the club's decision to forfeit the domestic competition. The coastal club announced their withdrawal from the competition in protest over refereeing following their 1-0 defeat at Gaish last week. Although they have yet to inform the Egyptian FA officially, a number of Ismaili board members reaffirmed their stance during the past few days. “We are training normally and the players are working hard because we did not receive orders from the board to stop our activity,” Ismaili assistant coach Ahmed Qenawi told FilGoal.com. “We will keep on fighting for the title until we are officially informed with the withdrawal decision.” Ismaili were almost kicked out of the title challenge with the Gaish loss, which left them trailing joint leaders Zamalek and Ahli by seven points.
