Nadine Mustafa Along with 600 athletes from 33 countries, Somabay swims to finish line of World Aquatics Festival, applauds Egyptian national team’s achievements at swimming tournaments.
The World Aquatics Festival, a spectacular event that brought together three international water sports tournaments, held its closing ceremony in Somabay. The festival, which was held for the first time in Egypt, witnessed the participation of 600 athletes from 33 countries who competed in artistic swimming, open water swimming, and beach water polo.
The tournaments took place in attendance of His Excellency Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports, Captain Pilot Husain Al Musallam, President of WAF, Eng. Yasser Idris, Chairman of the Egyptian Swimming Federation, member of the international and African swimming federations, and Vice President of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, Eng. Ibrahim Zaher, General Secretary of The Egyptian Swimming Federation, and Eng. Ibrahim El-Missiri, CEO of Abu Soma Touristic Development Company.
On this occasion, His Excellency Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, Minister of Youth and Sports, congratulated the Egyptian team for its excellence during the competitions and hailed the splendid organization and good hosting of the event held in Somabay.
“The festival showcased the Egyptian government’s vision and commitment to sports as a vital sector for the nation,” Sobhy said. “The Ministry aligned its efforts with the national strategy of achieving excellence and leadership in youth and sports, leveraging Egypt’s remarkable organizational skills and massive sports infrastructure, and enabling it to host major events and tournaments. The event was flawless thanks to the political leadership’s backing of sports, as well as the trust and reputation that Egypt has earned recently after organizing many high-level tournaments.”
Meanwhile, Captain Pilot Husain Al Musallam, President of WAF, expressed his gratitude for the Ministry’s outstanding role and ongoing support for the Federation and said: “We are delighted that Egypt hosted the festival for the first time and proud of the amazing success it attained to make the festival come out in this splendid way. This is a testament to Egypt’s appeal for international federations in various individual and team sports to host further world championships.”
Eng. Yasser Idris, Chairman of the Egyptian Swimming Federation, expressed his pride and satisfaction with the festival and its outcomes. “We are proud of our remarkable ability to impress the world with our excellent organization of events, and our Egyptian team, which did wonderfully throughout the festival and showed its merit among the best athletes in the world. It is a great chance for them to interact with players from different countries and be prepared to compete in future world championships.”
Ibrahim El-Missiri, CEO of Abu Soma Touristic Development Company, expressed his pride of the fruitful cooperation with esteemed partners, led by the Ministry of Youth and Sports as well as The World Aquatic Federation and the International Swimming Federation, which resulted in a wonderful look of a festival held for the first time in Egypt, especially in Soma Bay. “The events have well demonstrated Egypt’s ability to bring many sports figures and athletes from different countries in one place by hosting an event of this size while fully complying with international standards. We confirm our full commitment to work to support Sports tourism, as Somabay is always eager to host international events and harness its capabilities to promote sports in Egypt. This will show Egypt as an ideal destination for organizing and hosting such events.”
It was a dazzling start to the festival with the Beach Water Polo Qualification Tournament, where the Egyptian team showed their skills and talents in exciting matches and clinched the silver medal by coming in second after Montenegro where they qualified to the Final World Cup that will be held in Bali. The next highlight was The Open Water Beach Water Polo World Cup, where the Egyptian team made history by winning, for the first time ever, the bronze medal in the mixed 4x1500m race, trailing Germany and France. The next highlight was The Egyptian mixed team amazed the crowd and the judges with their stunning performance in the Artistic Swimming World Cup, garnering the silver medal and second place in the free routine competitions after Italy.
