Wrestling with their limitations

"If you have 1,000 athletes for example, you pick the best 10 to sponsor, as they represent Egypt," said Ibrahim Moustafa, secretary-general of the Egyptian Wrestling Federation.

"The club itself has to finance equipment and training for the other players," he added.

This is what makes clubs like al-Shal seem miraculous.

"Limited resources, immense achievements," said coach Mahmoud al-Wafaa'i, who is unpaid and trains the girls out of self-professed love for the sport.

"The hall is only 3.5 by 3.5 meters ... practically impossible to create one champion in. Yet we produce champions."

Al-Shal is emblematic of broader structural problems across Egypt. CAPMAS data show that in many governorates, government-run clubs employ far more administrative staff than trainers.

Still, al-Shal's Rodaina Ahmed Gamal, 15, a national gold medalist who has qualified for the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympics, says she prefers training there than at other larger clubs she can access.