Egypt will host the first edition of the UIPM Pentathlon World Cup in this Olympic season at the Platinum Sports Club in New Cairo. It will run from 26 February to1 March.

"This World cup is among the four UIPM world cups series that qualify for the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. The competitions will be fierce as the countdown for the Olympics had started," President of the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation (EMPF) Sherif El-Arian told Ahram Online.

The world's best penathletes from 40 countries will compete in Egypt.

The countries which confirmed their participation include Argentina, Austria, Belarus Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech republic, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The tournament will feature 450 modern penathletes, (79 men and 71 women). Each country will be represented by eight athletes (four men and four women), except host nation Egypt, which will compete with 12.

El-Erian said there is no reason to worry over China's participation, given concerns over the coronavirus.

"When the coronavirus started to spread, China isolated its national teams in safe places," El-Arian said.

"The country quarantined the teams, making tests and all the necessary measures to make sure that they are not infected.

"There are no worries whatsoever ... We have taken all the necessary measures since the arrival of the Chinese team and there is a representative from the Egyptian health ministry staying with them at the hotel."

Egypt's Penathletes

The final list for the world's best 36 penathletes who qualified for the Olympics will declared on 1 June.

EMPF decided to compete with six athletes in men and women disciplines.

The men's team includes Ahmed El-Gendy, Islam Hamed, Yasser Hefini, Mohanad Tarek and Sherif Yasser in addition to Ali Eddin Sherif and Sherif Nazeir as substitutes. The women's team comprises Haidy Adel, Salma Ayman, Amira Kandil, Sondous Tarek, Noureen Boulous, Maya Mohamed and Darine Yasser as substitutes.

"We already have two athletes (male and female) who qualified last year from the African championship. We are working on qualifying two more athletes," El-Arian added.

Competition schedule

The women's qualifications will start Wednesday, followed by the men's qualifiers on Thursday. All the events will begin at 10 am and ends at 6 pm.

The women's final will take place on Friday 28 February while the men's final will conclude on Saturday 29 February. The mixed relay competitions and closing ceremony will be on Sunday 1 March.

"Egypt is now considered a hub for hosting several big sporting events. This shows Egypt's ability to organize big international events," Youth and Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhi told a press conference.

UIPM World Cup Series 2020

A series of four Pentathlon World Cups are held each year, culminating in a world Cup final where the champions of the year are decided.

The first is the UIPM World Cup, which will held in Cairo. Both the second and the third UIPM World Cups will held in Sofia, Bulgaria. The second UIPM will run from 24-28 April while the third UIPM World Cup will take place from 2-5 April.

The fourth will take place in Hungary, Budapest, from 29 April-3 May.

At the end of the four World Cups, the best 36 athletes of each gender qualify for the UIPM 2020World Cup Final via a ranking list, using the three best results of each athlete.

The World Cup finals will held in Korea from 14-17 May. The UIPM Senior World Championships will then be held in China from 25-31 May.

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