Overview
- The one-room al-Shal and Manshiya club trains girls on worn mats in a roughly 3.5-by-3.5-metre hall under unpaid coach Mahmoud al-Wafaa’i.
- Fifteen-year-old Rodaina Ahmed Gamal, a national gold medallist, has qualified for the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympics and says she will keep training at the club.
- Egypt’s youth and sports ministry says assistance reaches clubs through federations, while the wrestling federation confirms support is reserved for a small group of top athletes.
- Families cover recurring expenses such as registrations, weigh-ins, travel and stays for competitions, straining household finances.
- CAPMAS data show population growth of nearly one-third since 2011 alongside a more than 4% drop in sports clubs, and coaches say social skepticism still deters some girls even as new trainees are joining.