Egyptian squash players are known and their names are familiar whether nationally or internationally, including Mohamed El-Shorbagy who is ranked first internationally.
Egyptian female squash players Ranim El-Weleily is the most famous Egyptian champion, ranked second internationally in 2015.
Another well known female figure is Omneya Abdel Kawy, who is ranked sixth internationally. In October 2010, Abdel-Kawy reached her highest world ranking at fourth.
There are others figures who have and still achieve several victories. Unfortunately neither these figures nor their victories are as famous and well known as the ones previously mentioned.
Heliopolis Sporting Club organised an honour ceremony a few days ago to honour the following club squash champions, who achieved victories for not only for the club but for Egypt as well.
These honoured squash heroes were Nour El-Tayb, Hania El-Hammamy, Amr Mosaad, Ali Farag, Ismail Atef, Youssef Mohamed, Abdallah Yasser, Ahmed Wael, Mohamed Tamer, Tarek Abdel-Aziz, and Sherif Rashadan.
HSC’s figures Mohamed Tamer, Tarek Abdel-Aziz, and Sherif Rashadan were also honoured.
As for Egyptian rising female squash champions, HSC’s Nour El-Tayb and Hania El-Hammamy were both honoured.
The Heliopolis Sporting Club organised an honour ceremony for the club’s squash champions who won international championships.
It was held in the presence of the Head of the Egyptian Squash Association Assam Khalifa, the club chairman Haroun El-Touny, the club treasurer Emad El-Messiry and the following club’s board members Hazem Shiha, Ahmed Ragheb, Amr, Hamada, and Tamer Ismail.
Head of the Main Committee for Sports Activities and the Squash Comittee Naser Madkour was also present.
Amr Mosaad was one the honoured players and his current international ranking is the fourth. He was awarded the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Young Player of the Year’s Award in 2008.
As part of the Egyptian national men’s squash team, he won the silver medal in the 2013 Men’s World Team Squash Championships in Mulhouse, France. He also won the 2013 Macau Open Squash, a Professional Squash Association’s Tournament, Macau, China.
He won the prize money of $50,000 when he defeated English player Adrian Grant in the final match. He won in second place in the 2015 PSA Men’s World Squash Championship in Washington, US.
In these competitions’ final match, he was defeated by the French Grégory Gaultier.
Ali Farag is ranked 22nd internationally and recently surprised the world after winning the 2016 Motor City Open International Squash Championship in Detroit, US.
In this championship’s final game, which lasted for 50 minutes, Farag won against English player Nicholas Matthew, ranked third internationally. Farag won with the scores 11-7, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7, and the final result of 3-1 with prize money of $70,000.
In one of this championship’s matches, Farag defeated his compatriot, Mohamed El-Shorbagy, ranked first internationally with the score of 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6.
Ismail Atef won in second place in the under 15 years’ division in the US Juniors Open Championship for Squash for juniors between the ages of 11-19 years. This championship took place in the Boston, US from and was considered one of the most important championships for squash players.
Recognising Ismail Atef’s victory, technical director of HSC squash team Amr El-Borlousy was very grateful for his results since the championship had a special international importance. El-Borlousy expects that Atef’s future in sports will be promising and he is expected to join the Egyptian national squash team in the future.
Youssef Mohamed won the British Junior Open Squash Championship in 2010 for the under 13 years’ division. Abdallah Yasser ranked ninth place in the 2016 British Junior Open Squash Championship’s under 17 years’ division.
Although English junior squash player Sam Todd won the under 13 gold medal of the British Junior Open Squash Championship, several Egyptian players also took leading spots in this division including Ahmed Wael and Youssef Asser, who came in the sixth and in the eighth places, respectively.
Nour El-Tayeb is ranked seventh internationally and her highest ranking was last year in April, where she reached the fifth. She achieved several victories in the British Junior Open Squash Championship throughout several years. She won this championship’s under 13 years’ division in 2005 and won the championship’s under 15 years’ division in 2008.
She won the championship under 17 years’ division for two consecutive years, in 2009 and 2010. A year later in 2011, she managed to win the championship under 19 years’ division. In 2010, the Women’s Squash Association gave Nour El-Tayb the title of Young Player of the Year.
Two years later, included in the Egyptian National Women’s Squash Team, Nour El-Tayb won the 2012 Women’s World Team Squash Championships. The competitions were held in Nîmes, France.
In these competitions’ final match, Egypt won over the English National Women’s Squash Team with the result of 3-2, 1-3, 2-3. For the bronze medal, there was a match between the Malaysian team and the Australian. The victory was for Malaysia, which won over Australia with the result of 3-0, 3-0, 2-0.
Hania El-Hammamy, ranked 56th internationally, won the British Junior Open squash championship for under 13 years’ division in 2013, for the under 15 years’ division in 2015, and for the under 17 years’ division in 2016.
Photo courtesy of Heliopolis Sporting Club
