Egyptian female and male juniors as well as Egyptian men and women recently won top spots in the world’s most prestigious squash championships, making Egypt the first country to thrive in all these categories at once, according to PSA records.
Numerous Egyptian athletes, including Mostafa Asal, Hania El Hammamy and Rawan Al-Araby carved their names into the history of squash during this year’s Junior Champs.
Over the past few days, both Asal and Hammamy headed to the finals of the CIMB Foundation World Squash Federation (WSF) World Junior Squash Championships in Kuala Lumpur, making illustrious appearances in the premier World Squash Federation junior event for the third year subsequently, PSA World Tour reported.
“There was a lot of pressure on me too, and I was also nervous to start, because I didn’t want to lose in my last world juniors,” Hammamy told PSA.
Asal commented, “It’s an amazing feeling to win for the second time, although I’m happy to return this trophy after a week.”
PSA World Tour previously claimed that the rising star Asal is following in the footsteps of prominent Egyptian squash icons Mohamed El Shorbagy and Ramy Ashour. Asal has won 45 out of 59 matches played, recording a win ratio of 76.3 percent.
Asal also won the Mar del Plata Open, the Regatas Resistencia Open and the Paineiras Open Brasil, his PSA bio said.
Born in 2000, titleholder Al-Araby participated in the PSA World Tour for the first time, lifting the maiden PSA World Tour title. He also claimed the Keith Grainger Memorial UCT Squash Open twice. The junior player was featured in PSA’s list of the world’s top 50 players.
Many of the world’s current best male squash players are Egyptians, including (in ranking order) Ali Farag, Mohamed El-Shorbagy, Tarek Momen and Karim Aabdel Gawad, according to the PSA World Rankings.
Ali Farag
The current number one in the world Ali Farag recorded a 75 percent win ratio after winning 210 out of 280 total matches played and reaching 33 finals, according to PSA World Tour.
Thriving in his 10-year squash career, Farag is having a tremendous 2019 so far, hitting the world number one spot for the first time after winning the Oracle NetSuite, the Qatar Classic and the Tournament of Champions, reaching six finals during the seven tournaments he participated in this year. Farag triumphed in the UK’s DPD open and the El Gouna International Squash Open over the past few months. Knocking out his counterpart, previous number one in the world El Shorbagy, Farag successfully made it to the U.S. open, seizing the prestigious title during the 2017-2018 season, according to PSA World Tour.
Farag launched his career by snatching the prestigious title of maiden PSA M25. The Egyptian champ also lifted three titles out of the four tournaments in which he took part, wrapping up the year with an astonishing victory in the Irish open, one of the world’s most famous squash tournaments.
Farag also manged to conquer global squash icons in 2016, including El Shorbagy and three-time World Champion Nick Matthew, capturing the esteemed PSA M70 title, PSA World Tour stated.
Mohamed El Shorbagy
Shorbagy’s win percentage is 81, with 44 matches won out of 54 total matches played, according to The Squash Site.
Shorbagy, who currently stands second in the PSA rankings, saw his most recent conquest at the end of 2018 when he secured first place at the Hong Kong Open squash tournament, defeating top player Farag.
He rounded out this season by winning the Grasshopper Cup in Switzerland after defeating the world’s no. 3, Momen. Although Shorbagy’s current season is not going as well as that of 2017-2018, “The Squash Site” insisted in his season review that Shorbagy is still performing well, having netted four titles among which were three platinum events.
Egyptian female squash players received recognition equal to that of the Egyptian males. The top two in the PSA World Rankings are Egyptians, including champs Raneem El Walily and Nour El-Sherbini.
Raneem El Walily
Winning 340 matches out of 485 total played matches, Walily records a 70.1 win percentage according to PSA World Tour. The Egyptian champ crowned her 2017-2018 season with a number of outstanding awards, including at the El Gouna International, the US open and the China open. Her latest feats brought her back to the no. 1 spot in the PSA World Rankings.
The iconic player was officially named world champion in Manchester in 2017, her PSA profile mentioned.
Notably, 2015 was Walily’s golden year. She achieved multiple distinctive recognitions, including PSA Women’s Player of the year as well and the first player in more than nine years to oust the prior world no. 1 Nicole David, topping the PSA World Rankings.
Nour El Sherbini
The current world no. 2 Sherbini won 226 matches out of 229 total played matches, drawing a 76.1 win ratio.
El Sherbini, age 23, recently became the youngest three-time winner of the World Squash Championships when she took home this year’s trophy. Sherbini is the fifth woman to earn three World Squash Championships titles alongside New Zealand’s Susan Devoy, Australia’s Sarah Fitz-Gerald, Australia’s Michelle Martin, and Malaysia’s Nicol David.
In the World Championships that took place in Chicago from February 26-March 2, Sherbini won four out of five matches.
Alongside stars Mohamed Salah and five other Egyptians, Forbes included Sherbini on the “30 under 30 Middle East” 2019 list, in which the American magazine profiles Arab youths who thrive in their fields.
Sherbini had already made headlines this year after snatching the 2019 J.P. Morgan title from her Egyptian counterpart Raneem El Weleily, who ranks number one in the world. Sherbini sits second in the rankings.
