Egypt’s Mustafa surprises handball fans with bid for Olympic post

Faiza Ahmed
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-03-19

Brazil's Julio Cesar Gomes (C) attempts to pass between Egypt's Hassan Mabrouk (L) and Amr El Kolioby during their Men's World Handball Championship preliminary Group D match in Porec Jan. 22. (Reuters/Nikola Solic (Croatia))

CAIRO - Luxemburg’s Jean Kaiser and Gudmundur Ingvarsson of Iceland have emerged as the leading challengers to Egyptian Hassan Mustafa’s leadership of the International Handball Federation in the Federation’s forthcoming June elections. A total of 159 national federations will vote at the International Handball Congress to be held in Cairo June 4-7.

The 64-year-old Mustafa became the first Egyptian president of an international sports federation when he was elected president of the International Handball Federation in 2000.

In related news, Mustafa indicated he would run against incumbent Denis Oswald for the presidency of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF). The Swiss-born Oswald is a member of the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is president of the International Rowing Federation (FISA). Oswald joined the Board of ASOIF just two years ago and Mustafa’s candidacy has surprised many who believed that Oswald would stand unopposed for the leadership presidency.

Although the International Handball Federation put forward Mustafa’s name for ASOIF president the same day that rivals announced their intention to have him removed from his current post, member of the ASOIF executive board Andrew Ryan said, “This is a democratic process. Every Federation is entitled to put forward a candidate if they so wish.”

Mustafa faces severe criticism from a variety of quarters over accusations of match fixing, and alleged misuse of travel expenses.

The election for the position of ASOIF president by secret ballot of 26 sports federations will take place March 24 in the U.S. city of Denver, Colorado. A majority of votes cast, with a minimum of 14 votes, will determine the winner.

Meanwhile, with the May deadline approaching for World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) drug tests on handball players, some officials are expressing concern at the threat to the Olympics posed by a lack of progress on this issue.

[Daily News Egypt, www.canadaeast.com, USA Today]

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