Egyptian shooter Azmi Mahilba won the World Shooting Championship held in Croatia and the competition ended on Sunday.
Mahilba achieved a historic achievement for Egyptian sport, as Egypt had never won the World Shooting Championship despite its long history in the game, the federation of which was founded in Egypt in 1921.
By winning the world championship, Azmi Mahilba became the first Egyptian in all sports to reserve a seat to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Tough tournament and fierce competitions
Muhaliba told Al-Hurra that “The World Shooting Championship is the most powerful tournament that takes place for the game in the world because it is held every 4 years and features the strongest players in the world, and its competitions are among nearly 150 players from all countries, although there is another tournament held every year Under the name of the World Cup in Shooting, the World Championship is the strongest, especially the first tournament that directly qualifies for participate in the Olympics.
Muhaliba has achieved in his career pulling 11 different medals, including two gold at the World Cup, but his achievement of the gold medal, and the first place at the World Cup held in Croatia, is the first for him and for Egyptian sport in the history of the world championships.
He explained that “he qualified to participate in the final matches of the tournament among 8 players who qualified for the final competitions, and finished sixth among them, but managed to hit 40 pots out of 40 throws in the final match, while the his opponent, American champion Vincent Hancock, made 39 second, from 40 strokes, won the championship title and first place.
Difficulty on the way to the coronation
The Egyptian champion indicated that “the path to reach the world title is not easy, and the player pays the price for the difficulties he has to face until reaching the podium, be it difficulties related to free time to play and train and the pressure that we face during the competitions and the search for strong players with exceptional numbers and performances from all continents “.
The Egyptian Olympic Committee congratulated the player on his great result immediately after his crowning in the championship, and confirmed in a statement that what Azmi Muhaliba had achieved was a great achievement and congratulated him and the coaching staff. .
Azmi Mahilbeh talked about his beginnings with shooting, saying, “I started shooting at the age of eight with the encouragement of my father, who was a shooting player and participated in local and continental championships, and thanks to him I got hooked on shooting and loved it Excellent shot and World Cup bronze medal, but I play skeet while he plays on clay.
He continued: “I got my first medal in 2014 and it was a bronze medal at the world championships and the first in the history of Egypt at the world championships, and in the 8 years of participating in the championships I got 11 different medals at the world championships. World and Championships, and I was close to two medals at the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Olympics, but I didn’t win a medal in both, and because I was completely convinced that I did what I had to do and gave all my efforts, I didn’t stop there and continued to train, work and get medals and championships until I crowned the world championship and qualified for the Paris Olympics very soon, and this will help me develop a plan to prepare for The Olympics away from the pressure Looking for a place to participate until late before the championship races.
Muhaliba scored 122 successful shots out of 125 during the World Championships, which took him to the top of the championship standings and crowned his gold medal.
Although his father did not participate in the World Cup, he followed him around the clock during the tournament, and the player said that “in my childhood and with the beginnings of my practice of the game and participation in tournaments, my father’s presence represented a great pressure on me, being the reason for my love for the game and my attachment to it, and because he is a player Previously, but with the succession of tournaments, he has become the one who has come under more pressure than me, especially when he was not with me in the tournament and followed him from Cairo ”.
The Egyptian Shooting Federation described Azmy Mihailba’s victory in the World Cartouche Shooting Championship as an “unprecedented global achievement”, praising his progress in skeet competitions on American giant Vincent Hancock, who finished second, and Rashid Saleh of Qatar. , who finished third.
Egypt is preparing to host the Pistol and Rifle Shooting World Championships, from 12 to 28 October in the Egyptian Olympic city.
