Youths and Sports Minister Ahraf Sobhi held a special ceremony in Paris for athletes Ahmed Elgendy and Sara Samir for winning gold and silver medals in Paris Olympics.

The ceremony, held on Saturday, was attended by Egyptian Ambassador in Paris Alaa Youssef, Secretary General of the Olympic Committee Sherif el Aryan and heads of a number of sports federations.

Sobhi congratulated Elgendy for winning Egypt’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games in the Modern Pentathlon.

The 24-year, who won a silver medal at Tokyo 2020, set a new world record with 1,555 points to beat the previous one of 1,551 set by Csaba Bohm of Hungary in June.

The minister also congratulated weightlifting sensation Sara Ahmed Samir for securing a silver medal in the 81kg Women’s Final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

She achieved a total lift of 268kg, comprising 117kg in the snatch and 151kg in the clean and jerk, surpassing her previous personal record of 148kg set at the 2022 World Championships in Colombia.

He thanked the polit
ical leadership for their continued support of Egyptian sports, saying today’s accomplishments will enhance Egypt’s status at the global sports scene.

This accomplishment proved that Egyptian champions could compete in international competitions, he added.

He underlined the importance of continuing support for Egyptian sports to achieve more accomplishments in the future.

Head of the Olympic Committee Yasser Idris termed as right the committee’s decision to let Elgendy and Samir hold Egypt’s flag at the inauguration ceremony of the Olympics.

He made clear that Egypt’s Liverpool player Mohamed Salah was supposed to hold the flag if he was to lead the country’s Olympic football team.

Twenty four hours before the curtains are set to fall on the Paris 2024 Olympics, Egypt’s medal standings rose to three; Gold by modern pentathlon athlete Ahmed Elgendy, Silver by weightlifter Sara Samir and Bronze by fencer Mohamed el Sayed.

Source: State Information Service Egypt