What they said after Egypt 2021 Draw
The spectacular and dazzling Draw event of the 27th IHF Men's Handball World Championship, held on Saturday at the Giza Pyramids, has brought up many reactions.
The Draw Ceremony was attended by Egypt's Prime Minister Dr Moustafa Madbouly, Youth and Sports Minister Dr Ashraf Sobhy and IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa, in addition to ministers and top officials of State as well as public and Sports figures and dignitaries.
This is what they shared with Egypt 2021 website after the draw.
" I have noticed positive feedback and reactions after the draw and just waiting for the reactions and general impressions of the International media. As I said before, the Draw Ceremony is just a warm up to what is coming next for Egypt in organising the Championship itself.
"Egypt had previously hosted many major international and world championships in various sports, not only handball. Egypt is capable of organising any major sports event and there is no doubt of their success in hosting Egypt 2021. This is for certain.
"I see Egypt 2021 as the light that will shine at the end of the dark tunnel in such hard circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic." IHF President, Dr Hassan Moustafa
"We host the World Championship according to the international medical preventive and precautionary measures. We are working under certain codes, which are always updated according to the developments of the pandemic. We are ready to host a perfect event with no risks.
"So glad with the reactions to the Draw Ceremony, which proves that Egypt is always capable of facing the challenges and organising world-class events." Minister of Youth & Sports Dr Ashraf Sobhy.
" While working on the organisation of the 27th edition, we faced many challenges because of the pandemic, but today we have given a strong proof which showed how Egyptians can unite in hard times and beat the challenges.
"Egypt's true identity shows up in such difficult times and the Draw Ceremony being held at the Pyramids Plateau is a wonderful message and slogan, which we had adopted since the beginning to the world 'Yes we can'.
" The national team has undergone a closed training camp in Hurghada before resuming training in Cairo to be followed by another training camp in Hurghada later. We are also considering arranging for some friendly meetings before the Championship in January." EHF president & Chairman of the Organising Committee Hesham Nasr
"So proud with the outcome of the Draw Ceremony and the honourable and prestigious image of the whole event in front of the whole world. Also proud with the work done by all commissions and we will continue working, non stop, on finalising all remaining works to be ready for receiving our visitors and hosting the event.
"The 31st of October is the date when all four venues would be ready to host the two- week tournament. We are currently coordinating with all commissions to make sure all is set and ready to deliver the Championship in a best-ever shape." Hussein Labib, Championship Director
"It is a tough draw. We have 32 of the best teams in the world. This has made it difficult for us to select one of the groups to join, but we finally chose group 7.
" This group is the best for us as we know a lot about the other teams playing with us in the group. We are still waiting for the fourth team who will join us from the Americas, but we believe it will be Chile.
" We have a list of 25 players who are currently training together as part of our preparations, from which we will select the team that will represent Egypt at the World Championship." Egypt head coach Roberto Parrondo.
"We are doing our best and exerting our utmost effort to achieve the best result we can at the Championship which will be hosted at our own homeland.
"We have huge ambitions by we are taking it step by step. We have a good team and is a mixture between experience and talented youth." Egypt Captain Ahmed El Ahmar
"Our game against Sweden has always seen a close level of performance, which opens up more chances for us.
"Our ambitions are not limited to the eighth place we had achieved in the previous edition. We are looking forward to a better result than that and definitely dream of a medal." Egypt player Ali Zein.
" Choosing to play with Sweden in the group is a good thinking as we believe we have been on the same level in the past years and sometimes we have the advantages.
"Being named as the best goalkeeper at the 2019 World Youth Championship is just a step towards what I dream of and is not the end of my ambitions." Egypt Goalkeeper Abdel Rahman Homayed.
"I wish to see a full house hall at the World Championship. We are counting on the spectators support as we are used to. It will have a positive impact on the team.
"Despite winning the World Youth title, playing the Men's Championship for the first time and at home is totally a different story." Egypt player Hassan Kaddah