Although shooting and field hockey are two sports aiming high in 2013, Executive Director of the Egyptian Shooting Federation (ESF) Abdel-Hamid Ghaleb revealed that the ESF is fighting just to stay alive. “Until now, we're still suffering from a big problem concerning importing shooting equipment. Due to the Arab spring revolutions and the unrest in the region, the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) set some restrictions on the import of weapons and ammunition to the region,” Ghaleb explained. “Shooting equipment is too expensive,” Ghaleb added. “Our main concern is to increase our financial resources through hosting championships and organising workshops and training courses in Egypt. At the same time, we're working on enlarging the base of junior shooters and improving their level of performances. This year, we have 15 Olympic competitions: five pistols, five rifles and five shotguns in addition to nine non-Olympic competitions.” Egypt is scheduled to host the ISSF Judge Course for Shotgun from 3-7 February, an event that will bring students from Arab and African countries. Marksmen and markswomen will also be trained on pistols and rifles in March. Several Arab and African countries are invited to the training which will be held at the Shooting Club in Giza. Egypt is a member of the non-Olympic federation La Fédération Internationale de Tir aux Armes Sportives de Chasse (FITASC). One of the first sporting associations, officially formed in 1867 in Paris, was the Circle of the Skaters in the Wood of Boulogne which was chaired by Prince Joaquin Murat. At the general assembly in 1938, the International Union of Hunting (UIC) became FITASC as it is still known to this day. Shooting with hunting shotguns at live birds or pigeons was at one time a very popular sport but is now prohibited. Shooting now aim at artificial targets made from clay. Targets are rabbit, chandelle, overhead, trap (outgoing), crossing, teal (launched straight up into the air), and an incoming bird. They are shot as singles and as doubles targets. “Egypt will host an ISSF championship for the first time. The ESF talked to the ISSF to hold a world championship with a grand prize. The exact date has not yet been decided. This type of shooting does not need any physical effort. It also gives the opportunity to seniors to participate and brings in a large income,” said Ghaleb. Shooters on each parcour shoot in turn at various combinations of single and double clay birds. Each peg on a parcour will have a menu card that lets the shooter know the sequence of clay birds he or she will be shooting. Ghaleb added that Egypt will hold the Arab Championship (for pistol and rifle) and the 11th African Championships (for pistol, rifle and shotgun) in October. Ghaleb confirmed to Al-Ahram Weekly that the African Championships are very important. “They will decide the marksmen who will represent the continent in the Second Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in China 2014.” The Egyptian Hockey Federation (EHF) is also building up for this year's events -- the World League Round Two in Elektrostal in Russia from 27 May - 2 June, the Africa Cup of Nations in Ismailia in Egypt in September, the 10th Men's Junior World Cup in India in December and the Africa Youth Olympic Games qualifying tournament in Zambia where the winners will qualify for the 2nd Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China in 2014. Executive Director of the EHF Ehab Zein Al-Abidine said the federation will hold training camps for the teams at home and abroad. “We are preparing by participating in national championships. The EHF is also working on bringing teams who participated in world cups to train here.” Zein Al-Abidine told the Weekly that the federation is currently suffering from a budget deficit because of the current political unrest. “For 10 years, we used to organise the annual Egypt International Championship, sponsored by Akhbar Al-Youm newspaper. But we stopped after the 25 January Revolution. We are now looking for other sponsors.”
