Egypt will host the UIPM (International Modern Pentathlon Union) 2019 Pentathlon World Cup I at the Platinum Sports Club in Fifth Settlement, New Cairo. It will run 27 February to 3 March.

President of the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation (EMPF) Sherif El-Arian announced, “There are no tickets: it is free of charge and open for the public. All are most welcome to attend the competition.”

“UIPM’s president, Klaus Schormann, will arrive Wednesday, while UIPM technical committee members Corine Bouzou from France and Dongbook Chung from South Korea will attend the World Cup. All the Olympic modern pentathletes and world champions will compete in Egypt because the countdown for the Olympics 2020 has started,” added El-Arian.

The tournament will feature 150 modern penathletes, (79 men and 71 women) representing 31 countries. Maximum participation for each country will be eight athletes (four men and four women), except host nation Egypt that will compete with 12 athletes.

The Egyptian team

“The EMPF decided to compete with four athletes (male and female) in each category of seniors, juniors and youth, to gain more experience. The Egyptian male team comprised of 12 pentathletes and substitutes of six athletes while the women's team includes 12 main athletes in addition to four substitutes,” said El-Arian.

The Egyptian senior men modern pentathletes team includes Islam Hamed, Mohannad Tarek, Ahmed Osama El-Gendy and Sherif Yasser. The junior male team includes Noureldin Karim, Mohamed Khaled, Mohamed Adam and Alyeldin Sewilam. The youth male pentathletes are Adham Fouda, Omar Wael, Youssef Korani and Eyad El-Khashaf. In addition, substitutes include Sherif Nazeir, Ahmed Maher, Mohamed Sameh, Abdel-Rahman Korani, Yasser Hefni and Ahmed Ashraf.

The Egyptian senior women team includes Haidy Adel, Salma Abdel-Maksoud, Sondous Tarek and Amira Kandil. The junior female team comprises Mariam Amer, Noureen Boulos, Hana Ihab and Hania Tarek. The youth girl’s team comprises Malak Khaled, Zeina Amer, Nouran El-Bahari and Salma Fouda. Substitute athletes include Areej Sarhan, Yasmine Hossam, Haya Mohamed and Maya Mohamed.

Competition schedule

The women’s qualifiers will start Wednesday followed by the men’s qualifiers Thursday. Competitions are divided into three groups, A, B and C. Athletes in groups A and B will start with swimming, fencing and the laser-run event (laser pistol shooting and running, with no riding). Group C will began with fencing, swimming and the laser-run event (no riding).

The top 12 athletes from each of the three groups per gender will qualify for the finals. A total of 78 athletes (36 men and 36 women) will compete in the finals.

The women’s finals are scheduled to be held Friday, 1 March, and men’s finals will conclude Saturday, 2 March. In the finals, competitions will start with swimming, fencing, riding and the laser-run event. The mixed relay will be held on Sunday, 3 March.

Hosting events

“There is a new trend and vision in Egypt in organising and hosting international sports events. The Ministry of Sports gives our athletes full support,” Egypt’s Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhi told a press conference at the opening ceremony of the tournament Tuesday.

“The UIPM has major events and world championships every year in Egypt. Competitors are aiming at the 2020 Olympic Games. I believe the competitions will be much more exciting than before. We have a lot of fans in Egypt,” UIPM secretary-general Shiny Fang said.

UIPM World Cup Series 2019

This year, four world cup competitions will be held. The first is the UIPM World Cup, which will be held in Cairo. The second UIPM World Cup will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, 10-14 April. The third UIPM World Cup will take place 2-6 May in Székesfehérvár, Hungary. The fourth will take place in Kladno, Czech Republic, from 21-26 May.

Points from the four World Cup Series events will count towards qualification for the UIPM 2019 World Cup Finals in Tokyo, Japan from 27-30 June.

Men’s and Women’s gold medalists will earn a qualifying place for their country in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.