Egypt’s national team of athletes with intellectual impairment arrived at Cairo Airport on 11 June following participation in the sixth edition of the Virtus Global Games held in the French city of Vichy from 4 to 10 June. The Egyptian team won 27 medals.
Egypt’s Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhy welcomed the team at the airport. The team included 35 male and female players who competed in five out of 14 sports in the competition; the five games were athletics, swimming, table tennis, equestrian and karate. The Egyptian team won 27 medals: 11 gold, five silver and 11 bronze.
Dr Sobhy congratulated the members of the Egyptian delegation of athletes for their remarkable achievements in the Virtus competition as well as in other international competitions. He particularly expressed the State and the government’s pride of the “heroes of determination and ability” whom he described as Egypt’s treasure. The Ministry of Youth and Sports, he noted, continuously works on training and integrating athletes with disabilities, who boast strong wills and aspirations, and raise Egypt’s name high.
The Virtus Global Games is the world’s largest elite sports event for athletes with intellectual impairment. Thousands of athletes from Europe, America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania participated in this year’s edition which was hosted by the VIRTUS Member Organisation for France – the Fédération Française du Sport Adapté (FFSA).
Also on 10 June, Egypt’s sports military institution announced that Bassant Hemida, the female sprinter representing the institution, had won the gold medal in the 200-metre sprint at the FBK Games held on 3 – 4 June in Hengelo, The Netherlands. Ms Hemida made the sprint 22.41 seconds, achieving a new Egyptian and Arab record.
The achievement qualifies Ms Hemida for the World Athletics Championships at Budapest 2023, and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
In August 2022, Ms Hemeids was named by the United Nations an ambassador for Egypt’s Shabab Balad (“Country’s Youth”) initiative, which is part of the UN’s Generation Unlimited (GenU) global initiative.
Watani International
12 June 2023