5 Olympic sports you probably didn't know Arabs qualified for

During the lead-up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Arab spotlight has naturally been shed on sports such as athletics and weightlifting, where Arab athletes have found most success, as well as football, considering its popularity.

But Arab athletes have excelled at a wide array of sports, thus Arab countries will be represented in most of the 42 sport disciplines at the Rio Olympics.

With the long-awaited games starting this week, here are five 2016 Olympic events that will include Arab athletes.

Egypt is sending eight swimmers to the synchronized swimming event in Rio 2016: Leila Abdelmoez, Samia Ahmed, Nariman Aly, Nour Elayoubi, Jomana Elmaghrabi, Dara Hassanien, Salma Negmeldin and Nada Saafan.

They will compete versus seven teams in the team event, plus Ahmad will pair up with Hassanien for the duets event. The duo will perform on Aug. 14, 15 and 16, while the team will compete on Aug. 18 and Aug. 19.

The Egyptians qualified to games by winning the African Olympic Qualifiers, signifying their sixth synchronized swimming Olympic participation. At the 2012 London Olympics, Egypt ranked seventh in the synchronized swimming team event.

Last year, the team took part in FINA’s World Aquatic Championship and won silver at the Heliopolis International Swimming Tournament. Egypt’s synchronized swimmers told Daily News Egypt that their performance in international competition is hindered by lack of support, noting that the sport combines swimming, gymnastics and ballet at the same time.

Nonetheless, synchronized swimming is still an all-women discipline at the Olympic Games.

Morocco’s Maha Haddioui will become the first-ever Arab Olympic golfer, as the only Arab qualified to Rio 2016, which will hold the return of golf as an Olympic sport after a 112-year absence.  Based on her ranking, Haddioui clinched an Olympic ticket to the golf event at the upcoming games.

Haddioui, the first Arab woman to compete in a professional golf tournament, has been representing Morocco in international competitions since 2003. She has qualified to the final of several European amateur events and won the Arab Championships five times. Additionally, she is the only Arab to earn full playing status on the Ladies European Tour, according to Sport360 .

“I know it is going to be incredibly challenging to win a medal, but I’m going to give it my all. I am upbeat and focused as I am quite used to the high pressure that comes with playing in big tournaments,” she told Sport360. “But, it would be absolutely amazing representing Morocco and being part of the African contingent at the Olympic Games. We have had some great Moroccan athletes who have made the country proud, and my dream is to follow in their footsteps.”

She will compete against 59 other female golfers at Rio 2016 starting Aug. 17 .

The 2016 Olympic tennis tournament will include Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri and Ons Jabeur, who will respectively compete at the men’s singles and women’s singles events. The duo represented Tunisia at the 2012 London Olympics as well: Jaziri ranked 17th by winning the first match and losing the second, while Jabeur placed 33rd after losing in the first round.

Tunisia only has one other tennis Olympian, Selima Sfar, who competed in 1996 Atlanta and 2008 Beijing and placed 33rd in both.

Jaziri qualified for Rio 2016 by ranking among the top 56 eligible men for qualification, while Jabeur earned a Final Qualification Place as the highest-ranked female tennis player from Africa outside the direct qualifying position. The Tunisian pair will play their first 2016 Olympic matches on Aug. 6.

Algeria’s Mohamed Bourguieg and French-born Farah Boufadene have qualified to the artistic gymnastics tournament at the Rio Olympics . This will signify Algeria’s first participation in the discipline since 1968.

Both Alegrians are All-Africa Games multi-medalists and have competed at the World Championships. Earlier this year, Bourguieg ranked fifth at the vault event in the Olympic trials in Rio de Janeiro.

Having qualified to the 2016 Olympics by virtue of their top African ranking, Bourguieg will perform in Rio starting Aug. 6, while Boufadene will make her Olympic debut the following day.

Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia have qualified to the canoeing event in Rio 2016.

Lebanon's Richard Merjan will become the nation's first Olympic canoeist after he was granted a wildcard invitation to the slalom event. He will be joined in slalom by Morocco's Hind Jamili, who booked her Olympic ticket by winning gold at the 2015 African Championships.

At the 2016 African Sprint Championships, Egypt secured two, while Tunisia secured three spots in Rio's canoe sprint event.

The slalom event in the Rio Olympics will begin on Aug. 7, while the sprints will kick off on Aug. 15.