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Al-Ahram Weekly 30 Sep. - 6 Oct. 1999 Issue No. 449 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 30 Sep. - 6 Oct. 1999 Issue No. 449
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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After the disappointment of seeing Egypt's Ahmed Barada lose in the recent World Open final, Cairo squash fans felt better when Egypt beat Wales 3-0 in the final of the Al-Ahram Men's World Team Squash Championships, claiming the prestigious title for the first time.
The squash squad
By Nashwa Abdel-Tawab
Barada giving Wales's Gough a hard time. Down: Both Ibrahim Nafie, chairman of Al-Ahram Organisation, and Gamal Mubarak presenting Egypt's team with the gold medals
photo: Khaled El-Fiqi
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Fifth seeded Wales and host nation Egypt met in the unexpected final after shock wins over defending champions England and second seeded Australia in the semi-finals. Though Egypt was a semi-finalist in 1995 and 1997, and Wales had improved to a hitherto best ever ninth place finish in 1995, neither country had ever reached the tournament's final leg before.
World No 3 Barada opened the proceedings for Egypt against Wales' world No 11 Alex Gough and seemed to be cruising to a straightforward win after taking a 9-2, 9-3 lead. Despite two hard-fought victories over the previous two days against Canada's Graham Ryding and England's world No 4 Paul Johnson, Gough was in no mood to submit easily to the crowd's favourite and soon pulled back to level the match, taking the fourth game 9-0. Despite taking a 6-2 lead in the fifth game, Gough was eventually overpowered by Barada who put his country ahead with a 9-2, 9-3, 4-9, 0-9, 9-6 win in 87 minutes.
There were emotional scenes after Egypt's No 2 Omar El-Borolossi defeated Welshman David Evans 9-6, 2-9, 10-8, 9-4, in 70 minutes in the second match to clinch the title for the hosts, the final victory coming by way of a penalty stroke, followed by a court invasion by jubilant Egyptian team members, coaches and officials, all eager to hug a tearful El-Borolossi. Egypt made it 3-0 when No 3 Amr Shabana took just 16 minutes to beat Greg Tippings 9-1, 9-6 in the dead rubber.
After their shock loss to Wales in the semi-finals, defending champions England salvaged some pride with a 2-1 victory over Australia in the play-off for third place. England's No 1 and world ranked No 4 Paul Johnson lost to Anthony Hill, Australia's No 1 and ranked No 7 in the world, 7-9, 2-9, 9-7, 9-4, 5-9 in a 69-minute encounter. Simon Parke from England, ranked No 6 in the world, then beat Dan Jenson, ranked No 10, 9-2, 9-4, 10-8. Mark Cairns of England, ranked No 28, beat Rodney Eyles, the 1997 world champion but now ranked 15, 9-10, 9-10, 9-6, 9-5, 9-0, in a 68-minute match.
In the first year that Wales had ever faced England in a men's world championship, the Gough-led squad beat their British rivals 2-1 in the semi-final after losing 3-0 to England in the earlier pool rounds. World No 11 Gough put the favourites ahead after pulling back from a game down to overcome England's world No 4 Paul Johnson 5-9, 9-2, 9-1, 9-1 in 75 minutes. England captain Chris Walker redressed the balance, beating Welshman Greg Tippings 9-2, 9-0, 10-8 in 31 minutes, but Wales No 2 David Evans then comprehensively defeated Parke 9-2, 9-3, 9-2, in 45 minutes to end England's four-year grip on the trophy. "We didn't play well and we are still surprised we lost," Parke said later. Earlier, Parke had vowed England would continue to dominate.
In the other semi-final, Barada delighted the home crowd when he put Egypt ahead against Australia by beating Dan Jenson 9-2, 9-1, 9-6 in 46 minutes. In the second rubber, it was one-all between Shabana and Australia's Paul Price when a dressing on the Egyptian's knee came off as he was serving at 8-2 for the game. Having already received treatment for the knee, Shabana was prevented from taking a further injury break and his open wound also disallowed him from further play in the game. The game was awarded to his opponent. Shabana, however, refused to let his concentration waver and returned to take the next two games and a 9-4, 7-9, 8-9, 9-4, 9-6 victory in 80 minutes which put his team into their first final.
"Starting from the last world junior individual championship, it was clear that the map of dominance has changed," Andrew Shelley, tournament director, said. "Instead of England, Australia and Pakistan, Malaysian's Ong Beng Hee snatched the world title and Egypt's Yehia Ahmed was the runner-up." Shelley added that squash is changing and evolving. "These upsets are good for promoting squash worldwide. Kenya is playing for the first time and the US became one of the top 16 countries instead of ending up in 23rd place last time."
