Monday 01/December/2025 – 09:00 AM
Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, Minister of Youth and Sports, and Major General Dr. Khaled Mubarak, Governor of South Sinai, witnessed the closing activities of the first Chinese billiards tournament of its kind, “Hipol,” in Egypt, the Middle East, and Africa, which was organized by the “Akhbar Al-Youm” Foundation in Sharm El-Sheikh, in a global sporting event that received wide praise from the international, African, and Chinese game federations.
The closing ceremony was held in the hall designated for competitions at the Concorde El Salam Hotel, where the final matches took place and prizes were distributed to the winners, in the presence of journalist Islam Afifi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Akhbar Al-Youm Foundation, the heads of the Chinese and African federations, Moti’ Ismail, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Concorde El Salam Hotel Group, and Ahmed Saeed, a member of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Federation, representing its president, Amr El-Kharadly.
Chinese billiards tournament “Hiball” in Egypt and the Middle East
During the ceremony, the Minister of Youth and Sports and the Governor of South Sinai, along with the leaders of the international, Egyptian and African federations, handed over prizes to the first places in a festive atmosphere, during which the participants expressed their great satisfaction with the level of organization achieved by the “Akhbar Al-Youm” Foundation, stressing that the tournament presented a distinctive model of Egypt’s success in hosting major international sporting events.
This first-of-its-kind tournament was organized separately from the French Billiards World Cup, which has been hosted annually in Sharm El-Sheikh under the auspices of “Akhbar Al-Youm” since 2004, in coordination with the Egyptian and International Federations. The French Billiards World Cup will start from the same hotel next Sunday in a new global event that will last an entire week.
The tournament also achieved its goals of stimulating sports tourism in Sharm El Sheikh, as it witnessed the participation of 136 players, both male and female, along with their families, which contributed to full occupancy inside the Concorde El Salam Hotel throughout the competition period. The organization received great praise from international federation officials, who confirmed that choosing Egypt to host the first edition was successful and represented an important step to spread the game on the African continent.
The tournament activities were broadcast through the Korean company “Five-Six” to 64 countries around the world, giving the event a widespread international character.
