Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: African champions Morsy and Nazeir (EGY) become first qualifiers

The first two qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were confirmed in February 2019 – and all the celebrations took place in Egypt.

Thanks to their individual victories in the 2019 African Championships, Haydy Morsy (EGY) and Sherif Nazeir (EGY) became the first pentathletes to put their names on the list for the Olympic Games – and the first Egyptians to qualify for Tokyo in any sport.

Both of the new African champions were convincing winners – Morsy (EGY) defeated women’s silver medallist Alida van der Merwe (RSA) by 27sec, while Nazeir (EGY) was even more emphatic in finishing 40sec ahead of men’s silver medallist Mohanad Shaban (EGY).

The bronze medals went to Amira Kandil (EGY) and Sherif Rashad (EGY) at the end of the one-day event, held at the Platinum Club in Cairo (EGY) ahead of UIPM Pentathlon World Cup Cairo.

Egypt will have several more opportunities to qualify another male and female athlete for the Olympic Games over the next 15 months. The maximum quota per nation is two athletes in each gender, so if more than two men or women from Egypt quality, the National Olympic Committee will have the power to decide which two athletes will compete.