WRESTLING: In a tiny hall far from Cairo, a club forges Egyptian girls' Olympic wrestling dreams

MANSOURA, Egypt — In a cramped hall barely larger than a living room in the working-class Nile Delta city of Mansoura, girls grapple, tumble, and scramble back to their feet on worn mats, their laughter and shouts echoing off peeling walls.

While Egypt celebrates its Olympic medals in wrestling, weightlifting, and other sports, thousands of young athletes outside the capital quietly train in tiny clubs like this one — 135 kilometers (85 miles) from Cairo and far from any major sporting hubs.

Yet the al-Shal and Manshiya Club has produced national champions in wrestling and judo, and one of its teenage stars is set to represent Egypt at the Youth Olympics.

Its success comes despite chronic underfunding, outdated equipment, and a lack of consistent government support.

Egypt’s population grew by nearly a third between 2011 and 2023, but the number of sports clubs fell by more than 4%, according to data from the state statistics agency CAPMAS. Most clubs are privately run, and resources remain limited.

Mohamed al-Shazly, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, said Egypt provides “full and comprehensive financial and in-kind support to clubs,” but funding depends on available resources and ministry plans, and is distributed through each sport’s federation.

Those federations, however, often direct funding primarily to national teams.

“If you have 1,000 players, for example, you select the best 10 to sponsor because they represent Egypt,” said Ibrahim Moustafa, secretary general of the Egyptian Wrestling Federation. “The club itself has to finance equipment and training for the other players.”

That reality makes clubs like al-Shal seem almost miraculous.

“Limited resources, immense achievements,” said coach Mahmoud al-Wafaa’i, who trains the girls without pay out of what he describes as pure love for the sport. “The hall is only 3.5 by 3.5 meters — it’s practically impossible to produce even one champion here. Yet we produce champions.”

Al-Shal reflects broader structural issues in Egypt’s sports system. CAPMAS data show that in many governorates, government-run clubs employ far more administrative staff than trainers.

Still, Rodaina Ahmed Gamal, 15, a national gold medalist who has qualified for the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympics, says she prefers training at al-Shal over larger clubs available to her.

“There are about 20 of us in a small hall here, and it feels like we’re all looking out for each other,” Rodaina said.

Her mother, Rasha Mahmoud, said the club provides space and coaching, but families shoulder most of the other costs.

“Rodaina might compete in three championships in one month — three registrations, three weigh-ins, three stays. I pay for all of that,” she said.

For older athletes like Nadia Hazem Mahmoud, 20, now in her second year of university, the barriers are also social.

“People ask, ‘How can a girl play wrestling?’ I started it as a hobby, and when I realized I was achieving something, I fell in love with the sport,” she said.

Rasha said the strength the girls gain through wrestling helps them protect themselves both mentally and physically.

Coach al-Wafaa’i said Rodaina’s success has drawn more young girls to the club, building a base of more than a dozen trainees under the age of 12 and offering a rare outlet in their low-income neighborhood.

Egypt sent 148 athletes to the Paris 2024 Olympics and won three medals in modern pentathlon, fencing, and weightlifting. But in Mansoura, far from the Olympic spotlight, the future of women’s sports still depends on small clubs like al-Shal.

As Rodaina put it, “I started here, so I want to finish here. I want to say I brought an African medal from al-Shal Club.”

Reporting by Heba Fouad and Mohamed Ezz; Editing by Hugh Lawson/Reuters