Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 March 2000 Issue No. 474
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Barada stabbed in the back

By Inas Mazhar

Room 618 and the sixth floor of a Maadi hospital were crowded with visitors extending their wishes for a speedy recovery to Egypt's top squash player, Ahmed Barada, who was injured in an attack by an unknown assailant.

Shocked, weak and pale, Barada told Al-Ahram Weekly that he was feeling better. "Thank God, I survived. This incident showed me how much I am loved by my family, friends and fans," he said.

Barada, 22, had been returning home from a friend's engagement party at around 11.45pm on Sunday. While ascending the steps to his home, he was attacked by an assailant who had hidden under the staircase. The attacker stabbed Barada twice near the spinal cord and escaped before the squash player got a good look at his assailant.

"I was so scared, shocked and in severe pain. I don't know how I managed to knock on my neighbour's door on the first floor and ask for his help," Barada recalled. The neighbour called the police and an ambulance that took the champion to the nearby Al-Salam hospital.

Barada became famous as a world-class squash player at an early age. At the age of 14, he came first in the juniors' categories of the British Open, French Open, and the Belgian Open. Barada subsequently repeated these feats in the under 16 and 18 categories. In 1995 he won the World Junior Championship as well as the teams' title at the same competition. His victories in the past three years in international events organised in Egypt and abroad have brought his world ranking to third.

The accident may be the first in the nation's sports history, but not in the world. Former No 1 tennis star, Monica Seles, an American, was stabbed in the back in a major tennis event in Hamburg in 1993. Russian swimmer Alexander Popov was stabbed in the chest in a market in Russia during 1996 after winning Olympic gold medals in Atlanta.

Although police are investigating the case they have not discovered either the identity of the attacker or the motive for the assault. "I couldn't see him. It was very dark. I don't have a clue who would do that or the motive behind it. I have no enemies. I love all people and have been good to many," Barada said.

A runner-up in the Belgian Open to the reigning world champion Peter Nicol, Barada will miss next week's Masters Squash Championship, organised by Al-Ahram and scheduled to take place in Hurghada from 26 to 31 March. Playing at home, Barada was a favourite to win the title of the championship which will be held under the auspices of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak.

"Of course, I'm sad that I will miss the competition. It was very important. I really wanted to participate and win and improve my world ranking. I was training very hard for it because it is only a few days from now. But, unfortunately, this maniac shattered my dreams of winning the Masters," Barada said, shaking his head sadly.

Dr Essam Shelbaya, head of the medical team treating Barada, said his condition was stable. "He is suffering from two deep wounds in the back near the spinal cord," Shelbaya explained. "We received him here at the hospital in a serious condition, but he was conscious, thank God. On his arrival, he was bleeding heavily from two stab wounds on the left side of his back beside the muscle parallel to the spinal cord. Each wound was about 1.5 centimetres long. We took him to be X-rayed and found out that they were muscular injuries. He was lucky that the weapon did not penetrate the chest cavity or the abdominal cavity, Shelbaya said. The physician explained that Barada went through a 45-minute operation which showed that the upper wound was four centimetres deep and the lower one two centimetres deep.

"Although his physical condition is stable, we will keep him in hospital for five days at least because he is on antibiotics. We want him to be under our observation. It may take two weeks for his injuries to heal and he can resume training, but he will need physiotherapy after six weeks. He can go to local competitions, but he will need more time before participating in world competitions," Shelbaya continued.

"Definitely, he needs some time for rehabilitation, both physically and psychologically. He never expected this action. It was so strange. He is a much-loved person. The psychological trauma will continue for some time but, I think, with his youth, with the people around, he will recover very soon," Shelbaya concluded.

Barada is keenly aware that the healing of his psychological wounds will present challenges. "I'm not sure if I can hold the racket and go onto the court and play as I used to," he said.

Nonetheless, it appears that the mental toughness that he surely depended on to become a world-class player will work in his favour. "What I'm sure of is that I will be back to training and doing physiotherapy... But, I need time to be alone. I need time for rehabilitation. I need to collect my thoughts, reconsider my life and everything around me. I can't believe what happened to me, let alone understand the motives of the person who attacked me," he said.

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