Ibrahim Ghanem, known as “Al-Wansh,” won the gold medal in the 72 kg weight category at the World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championship, which was held in Serbia recently, where he defeated his Hungarian competitor, Robert Artella, in the final match with a score of 5-2.
This is France’s first world gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling, weighing 72, since 2014.
Al-Wansh was born in Menoufia Governorate, north of Cairo. He won the bronze medal with Egypt at the World Junior Championships in 2014 in Zagreb. He also won the silver medal at the African Games in 2015, then won the African Championship title in Morocco in 2017.
After that, Al-Wansh participated in the World Championship in Poland for youth under the age of 23 in 2017. During transit at the Paris airport while he was on his way back to Cairo, he told his colleagues and his coach that he was going to the bathroom, and then everyone was surprised that he failed to return to Egypt.
Al-Wansh disappeared from sight for 5 years, and after his return, he appeared in a France jersey in 2022 at the European Championship in Bulgaria, and it turned out that he obtained French citizenship in 2020.
In 2023, he won the European Championship title for France after an absence of 26 years, specifically since 1997, and then he was recently crowned the World Championship.
Al-Wansh told Sky News Arabia:
- I am happy with what I have achieved, but I am sad because I did not achieve gold in the World Championship under the Egyptian flag.
- If I could go back in time, I would not have decided to leave Egypt and play for another country, despite the difficulties and problems that everyone knows that wrestling and individual sports players face.
- The problems are well-known and do not need clarification. The crisis in Egypt is not in the training and techniques, as they are at the highest level, and even better than France, but the problem is the lack of care and appropriate life for the players.
- All my colleagues in Egypt were happy with my achievement, and none of them blamed me for my decision.
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