Egypt's king of kung fu craves home recognition for his sport

Egypt's Moataz Radi - aka "Mizo" - competes successfully with China's top kung fu fighters in international championships, but yearns for recognition in his own country, where soccer dominates the sports pages.

As Egyptians obsessively follow the preparations of the national soccer team for the World Cup in Russia and every move of star striker Mohamed Salah at Liverpool, Mizo is preparing for the next world championship in a sport that lacks sponsors and fans.

Despite his heavy build, 28-year-old Mizo, who stands 6-foot-3, moves lightly during training at a modest gym in Cairo.

He is preparing to join the national team's training camp ahead of the world championships later this year in China.

Kung fu, also known as wushu, is an unarmed Chinese martial art practiced through display or combat.

According to Mizo, the sport became popular in Egypt through movies.

"Egyptians learned about kung fu from Bruce Lee and Jet Li, and they pictured kung fu players always in mid-air," he said.

Like other Egyptians, Mizo was initially attracted to soccer, before he was forced to quit because he wasn't good enough.

In kung fu things were different.

Since 2006, Mizo has dominated the sport in Egypt for his 90+ kg weight class, and has also enjoyed success on the world stage.

"I won the world gold medal in 2015, silver in 2016, and bronze in 2017, and I am now training for the coming championship," Mizo said, sporting the dragon-pattern shorts he wore at last year's world championship.

He is becoming a model for younger kung fu fighters.

"I hope to be like Captain Moataz, or even have the grit and will that he has," said 21-year-old Abdel-Rahman Mahmoud.

In November 2014, Mizo fractured his leg so badly that no one expected him to fully bounce back. Yet the following year, he competed in his first world championship and won the gold medal.

"I saw in Moataz during the period of his injury perseverance that I have never seen in any fighter in the world," said Ahmed Abdel Aziz, the kung fu manager at Mizo's club.

During that time, Miz had three three-hour training sessions a day, said his coach, Ramadan Abdel Meguid.

Mizo was born in Cairo to a middle-income family, and graduated from Cairo University, where he studied literature.

"I'm the only Egyptian - also the only Arab and African - to win the a kung fu world championship gold medal in the 90+ kilograms weight class, and I found that my popularity in China is more than in my country," said Mizo.

He said he reached stardom without any support from the state.

No government representatives received him at the airport upon his return from Jakarta in 2015 with a gold medal, as the celebratory scenes he had dreamed about failed to materialize.

However, the government gave him 50,000 Egyptian pounds (around $6,500 at the time) as a reward.

"I call these sports that we play the 'martyred sports' and that's because of the media's lack of interest in them," said Mizo.

Mizo, a Barcelona fan, said soccer swallows most of the sponsors' attention as the most popular sport in the country.

In October 2017, Mizo participated in one of the sport's top tournaments - "King of Kung Fu" - in China, invited by the local federation.

The tournament had eight matches, "but more than 70 TV and internet channels were covering it, and there were millions of viewers," he said.

At home, without sponsors, Mizo, gives kung fu lessons to provide for his wife and young daughter and cover his training, travel and injury costs.

He also hopes to win a second gold medal.

"This sport runs in my blood," he said.

Agence France-presse