CAIRO — Egypt is gearing up for a different kind of sports rivalry, one in which it will compete to keep its own athletes from "defecting" to other countries.

Under the auspices of the Egyptian government, Banque Misr launched Feb. 18 the Egyptian Sports Fund to support athletes in Egypt and help them reach the forefront of international competitions. The fund will help build modern facilities and finance sports workshops for 70 athletes in the first three years.

So far, the fund has 5 million Egyptian pounds ($283,350) in paid capital contributed by Banque Misr. In March, the fund will launch an initial public offering (IPO), hoping to raise 250 million pounds in the first half of 2018 and 1 billion pounds within the next 18 months.

The fund was announced a few days after parliament's legislative session, in which the Youth and Sports Committee as well as the Foreign Relations Committee participated. During that Feb. 12 session, parliament called for action to retain Egyptian athletes, who are being recruited to become naturalized citizens and play for other countries, mainly Qatar.