Egyptian shooter Azmi Mahilbeh won the World Shooting Championship held in Croatia, and the competition ended on Sunday.
Mahilba achieved a historic achievement for Egyptian sport, as Egypt had never won the World Shooting Championship despite its long history in the game, whose federation was established in Egypt in 1921.
By winning the world championship, Azmi Mahilba became the first Egyptian in all sports to reserve a place to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Tough tournament and fierce competitions
Muhaliba told Al-Hurra that, “The World Shooting Championship is the most powerful tournament that takes place in the game in the world because it is held every 4 years and the strongest players in the world participate in it, and its competitions are between nearly 150 players from all countries, despite the presence of another tournament held annually. Under the name of the World Cup in Shooting, the World Championship is the strongest, especially the first tournament that qualifies directly to participate in the Olympics.
Muhaliba achieved in his career with shooting 11 various medals, including two gold medals in the World Cup, but his achievement of the gold medal, and first place in the world championship held in Croatia, is his first, and for Egyptian sport in the history of world championships.
He explained that, “He qualified to participate in the final matches of the tournament among 8 players who qualified for the final competitions, and he was ranked sixth among them, but he managed to succeed in hitting 40 plates out of 40 throws in the final match, while his opponent, the American champion, Vincent Hancock, achieved 39 according to, From 40 shots, he won the championship title and first place.
Difficulties on the way to coronation
The Egyptian champion pointed out that “the path to achieving the world championship title is not easy, and the player pays the price of the difficulties he faces until he climbs to the podium, whether they are difficulties related to his free time to play and training and the pressure we face during the competitions and the pursuit of strong players with numbers and distinguished performance from all continents.”
The Egyptian Olympic Committee congratulated the player on his great achievement immediately following his coronation in the championship, and confirmed in a statement that what Azmi Muhaliba had achieved was a great achievement and congratulated him and the technical staff.
Azmi Mahilbeh spoke regarding his beginnings with shooting, saying: “I started practicing shooting at the age of eight with the encouragement of my father, who was a shooting player and participated in local and continental tournaments, and because of him I became attached to shooting and I loved it. I started participating in tournaments at the age of 12, and my brother Abdulaziz is also a player. Excellent marksmanship and a bronze medal at the World Cup, but I play skeet while he plays dirt.
He continued, “I achieved my first medal in 2014 and it was a bronze medal in the world championships and the first in the history of Egypt in the world championships, and over the 8 years of participating in the championships, I achieved 11 various medals in world cups and championships, and I was close to achieving two medals in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. And Tokyo, but I did not win a medal in both of them, and because I was completely convinced that I did what I had to do and gave all my efforts, I did not stop there and continued training, working and achieving medals and championships until I crowned the world title and qualified for the Paris Olympics very early, and this will help me in developing a plan to prepare for the Olympics away from pressure Searching for a place to participate until late before the championship competitions.
Muhaliba scored 122 successful shots out of 125 during the World Championships, which pushed him to the top of the championship standings and crowning her gold medal.
Although his father did not attend the World Championships, he was watching him around the clock during the tournament, and the player said that “in my childhood and with the beginnings of my practice of the game and participation in tournaments, my father’s presence represented a great pressure on me, being the reason for my love for the game and my attachment to it, and because he is a player Previously, but with the succession of tournaments, he became the one who was subjected to more pressure than me, especially when he was not with me in the tournament and followed it from Cairo.”
The Egyptian Shooting Federation described Azmi Mihailba’s victory in the World Cartouche Shooting Championship as an “unprecedented world achievement”, praising his progress in the skeet competitions over the American giant, Vincent Hancock, who finished second, and Qatar’s Rashid Saleh, who finished third.
Egypt is preparing to host the World Pistol and Rifle Shooting Championship, from 12 to 28 October in the Egyptian Olympic City.
