More than 300 LED and discharge fixtures from PR Lighting graced the Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex for the inaugural opening of the 22nd 2016 African Handball Cup of Nations Championship, which took place over 10 days at the end of January.
They were deployed by the Chinese manufacturer’s Egyptian partner, Hi-Lights, whose inspiring concept was designed by Ahmed Arafa.
Hi-Lights itself is the country’s largest service provider (and one of the biggest throughout the Middle East). It was awarded the contract by the Egyptian Handball Federation & Ministry of Youth and Sports, and was asked to provide the lighting, sound, video projection and LED screens.
To illustrate a united Africa — One Hand theme, Arafa was able to source all his fixture requirements from Hi-Lights’ PR Lighting inventory. This included 100 XR 330 Beams, 60 XR 200 Beams, 48 XLED 1061’s, 48 XLED 3019’s, 24 PR 5000 Framings, 16 PR 5000 Spots and 16 of the new LED Studio 3200Ds. The emphasis was on lighting versatility and rich colour palettes, producing high, optically advanced output from compact form factors.
“This variety of lighting fixtures from PR gives many options for the designer to really use his imagination and with different programming possibilities,” summarised Hi-Lights CEO, Hamed Arafa.
As a result, the audience of around 12,000, including Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, was wowed by a dynamic show, featuring six singers from six different African countries, and with the lighting piloted from a MA Lighting grandMA2 Full Size and grandMA2 ultra-light consoles.
The opening event was indeed a major success and all the fixtures worked flawlessly. The President of Russian Handball Federation, Sergey Shishkarev, for one, said that this had been the best inauguration ceremony he had ever seen.
Taking charge of lighting design for the Closing Ceremony was Tamer Oraby, who followed a similar fixture list – with similar success – merely adding three laser beams.
The competition itself serves as the African qualifying tournament for the Summer Olympics 2016 and 2017 World Men’s Handball Championship.
