Egypt’s 1st-ever world cycling championship draws world praise, embraces SDGs

03 / 09 / 2021

By Marwa Nassar - -

Egypt’s outstanding organization of the Junior Track Cycling World Championship – which it hosts for the first time under the patronage of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi – has drawn world praise and has enhanced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development acknowledges sport as an important enabler of sustainable development, recognizing the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions that it makes to the Sustainable Development Goals.

The championship – which runs from September 1 to September 5 – is organized by the Egyptian Cycling Federation in collaboration with the International Cycling Union (the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI).

The competitions consist of 22 races; 11 races for male juniors and 11 for female juniors.

UCI president thanks Sisi amid international praise:

UCI President David Labertiant praised the wonderful organization of the Junior Track Cycling World Championship 2021.

Labertiant also hailed the dazzling ceremony and the performances presented by the cycling and gymnastics teams, fireworks and the artistic segment at the ceremony.

During his speech at the opening ceremony, Labartient thanked President Abdel Fattah El Sisi for holding the tournament under his auspices, stressing that Egypt is a beautiful country that has become the focus of the world’s attention in hosting tournaments and mega sporting events.

Labertiant also lauded the efforts of the Egyptian government and the Egyptian Cycling Federation, in completing the Cairo International Stadium track in line with the latest modern world standards, which hosts the championship for the first time.

Labertiant added that the tournament achieved remarkable success on its first day, praising the precautionary measures against coronavirus to protect the participants in the tournament.

Dr. Egzafy Begard, the medical manager of International Cycling Union, has also extolled the coronavirus precautionary measures adopted at the championship.

The head of the competitions Committee of the world Cycling Championship, Monia Berwasso, has also commended the championship’s organization which she described as good.

She noted that Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli and Youth and Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhi have been keen on attending the opening ceremony and this has a clear indication of the great interest that Egypt gives to sports under the leadership of President Sisi.

She added that the good and wonderful organization of the championship wasn’t surprising as Egypt realized great achievement in the world champions which it hosted lately, including the World Handball Championship.

Two Egyptians still have chance for medals, Germany and Canada win gold medals:

Egypt’s Abdallah Afifi has been qualified to the Scratch Final in the championship, while Egypt’s Habiba Eleiwa will be running the elimination final of the championship.

Mohamed Ibrahim, the coach of the Egyptian junior cycling team, said the results of the national team are satisfactory and Egypt is waiting for two world championship medals.

Ibrahim hoped that Afifi would crown the efforts exerted by winning one of the first three medals, stressing at the same time that he is a strong candidate to occupy one of these positions.

Ibrahim added that the young player Habiba Eleiwa, who will compete in the elimination competition, is also close to achieving one of the first three medals, hoping that she appears in a manner that would help her achieve this.

Meanwhile, Germany won the gold medal in the pursuit race on the second day of the competitions.
The Italian team succeeded in winning the silver medal behind its German counterpart, while the Russian cycling team came in third place, achieving the bronze medal.

The Canadian Carson Patron won the first place and the gold in the men’s scratch competition, while the second place and the silver medal went to the Swiss Pascal Tabner, and the third place and bronze medal was achieved by Italian Lorenzo Ursella.

Abdallah Afifi, player of the Egyptian national team, ranked fifth in the same race, behind Russian Daniel Valgonin, who came in fourth place.

Sports important enabler of sustainable development:

Such sports events contribute to promoting the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In paragraph 37 of the Political Declaration contained in resolution 70/1 entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, the UN Member States at the highest level recognized that “sport is also an important enabler of sustainable development” and valued “the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives.”

In line with this, the Principality of Monaco and the Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SDG Fund) jointly recognize the key role sport plays in sustainable development. The SDG Fund is the first UN joint development cooperation mechanism that implements the SDGs. It does so through partnerships with UN agencies and their public and private sector partners to address the challenges of poverty and sustainable development.

Of specific interest to the SDG Fund is the contribution of sports in ensuring peace and the promotion of respect for people regardless of socio-economic backgrounds, races, sex or age. This has led to the development of a toolkit on mainstreaming SDGs in sports which was launched at the UN headquarters in New York in the opening day of the High Level Political Forum 2018, the annual gathering of governments, UN, civil society, private sector and experts.