A day after his escape, Egyptian wrestling national team player Saif Shoukry appeared in Poland, while a government official confirmed to Sky News Arabia that the Ministry of Youth and Sports had asked the local sport federation for a report on the incident.
The sports community in Egypt received a shock on Thursday evening, after news circulated that Shukri escaped during his return with the national team delegation, after participating in a training camp in Kyrgyzstan, in preparation for the World U-23 Wrestling Championship.
After disappearing for about 24 hours, the player appeared in Poland, where he announced on his Facebook page that he was at Warsaw Airport.
Shukri wrote in his post, in which he attached a picture of himself: “I am very sorry to my loved ones and friends. I cannot respond to anyone. I am fine, do not worry about me. God willing, I will check on you soon.”
In another post, the player asked the media not to describe him as a fugitive, because this description “offends him,” and because “he has been a hero since childhood and has raised his country’s flag many times in international forums and has an honorable history,” as he put it.
Official comments
The spokesman for the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Egypt, Mohamed Shazly, told Sky News Arabia that the Ministry requested a detailed report from the Wrestling Federation to find out the circumstances and causes of what happened and investigate it.
In response to the criticism that athletes, especially in individual sports, are fleeing Egypt due to the lack of financial compensation they receive, Shazly said: “There are regulations that regulate the work of sports federations and determine allowances and rewards for winning, as well as the compensation that every player receives, especially Olympic players, and every player.” He knew this well before he sought to register in those federations.”
He explained, “With the acknowledgment of the small amount that players receive in general in Egypt and the ministry’s always striving to increase their allocations, what the state spends on the player is not only winning bonuses or salary, but rather expenses related to subsistence and full accommodation annually during training camps, whether inside or outside Egypt.” As well as travel allowances and tickets.
The official continued, “What is said about the Olympic player’s salary being less than a thousand pounds (about 30 dollars) per month is not true, because there is currently a national project for talent and the Olympic champion, in which the player’s salary is not less than 5 thousand pounds (about 150 dollars) per month, as well as “The Ministry has worked to double the rewards for winning over the past two years.”
The crisis of Shukri’s escape came less than 4 months after a similar incident occurred with the Romanian wrestling player Ahmed Baghdouda, who left the national team camp during his participation in the African Championship in Tunisia, last May.
Baghdouda then headed to Europe, then appeared to confirm that he had fled because his football federation did not provide the necessary financial allocations for his training and a decent living.
2023-09-09 00:34:50
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