MANSOURA, Egypt, Dec 22 (Reuters) - In a cramped hall barely ‌larger than a living room in the working-class Nile Delta city of Mansoura, girls grapple, tumble, and clamber to their feet again ‌on worn mats, their laughter and shouts echoing off the peeling walls.

While Egypt celebrates its Olympic medals in wrestling, weightlifting and ‌other sports, thousands of young athletes outside the capital toil away in tiny clubs like this one, 135 km (85 miles) from Cairo and far from any major sporting hubs.