4 -10 April 2002
Issue No.580
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 4 -10 April 2002 Issue No.580 |
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Tops but sometimes flops
Having four female Egyptian squash players in the world's top 50 is a good sign but their poor form on the international circuit is not. Nashwa Abdel-Tawab tries to unravel the mystery
At the women's Grand Prix finals of the Hurghada squash championship, the sole Egyptian representative, Omneya Abdel-Kawi, was knocked out, leaving the title chase to people other than her compatriots.
When it mattered most Abdel-Kawi, above, could not get by Horner. At the opening ceremony in Hurghada, foreign players, top, wearing Egyptian dress, clapped for a whirling dervish
Three other Egyptian girls never made it to Hurghada. They were ousted in the preliminaries.
This bleak picture is at once rosy and ironic. The four players are all ranked in the world's top 50. Abdel-Kawi is seeded 19 -- the first time an Egyptian female breaks into the top 20 -- Maha Zein is 24, Inji Khairallah 29 and Eman El-Amir 35.
Abdel-Kawi lost to Suzanne Horner of Britain 3-2, though barely a week earlier she had beaten Horner by the same score in the Heliopolis Open.
Where and what then is the problem? "Egyptian female bodies are sometimes flabby," says Samiha Aboul Magd, head coach of the girls squad at Heliopolis. "But they are flexible and can stretch, something just as more important as fitness. You can be less mobile but win just as many points."
Aboul Magd, a six-time national champion who in 1980 was the first woman to play in the British Open, added that it was not just Egyptians who were on the pudgy side, citing world class players Vanessa Atkinson and Linda Charman- Smith as examples of players with flab "much more than us."
Another problem that most players in Egypt encounter is school work. "They cannot put off studies like other girls in other countries," Abdel- Kawi told the Weekly. "It's major in Egypt. They train in the morning, go to school, have at least two private lessons in the afternoon and then train two hours and then study for exams. It's hectic and a load. We need a break and support from schools to make things easier."
Still, the dramatic rise of Egyptian females in the sport has not gone unnoticed. Rachael Grinham of Australia, the world's No 8, is playing professionally for Heliopolis Club "since squash in Egypt is better than in Australia nowadays."
Abdel-Kawi is currently the yardstick used to measure success among Egyptian girls. Having started to play as a six-year-old, her pro life began in 1999 at 14. Her ranking was 109 which zoomed up to her current 19.
She has amassed a comprehensive collection of national junior titles. At just 11, she travelled to Rio de Janeiro in 1997 as a member of the Egyptian under-19 team competing in the World Junior championship. Two years later, in Antwerp, she played a major role as the Egyptians won the World Junior Team title.
Known for her attacking style and great composure, she became a member of the Egyptian women's team which reached the last four of the World Women's Team Championship in Sheffield in November 2000.
Abdel-Kawi is care-free, a characteristic some observers find surprising given how often she and her teammates lose. But her on-court resolve and four-hour daily practice regimen may take her towards her target goal of a world top 10 place. She has already started reaching finals on the WISPA Tour, having been runner-up in the Finnish and Indian Opens. She also became the first Egyptian girl to win the most prestigious squash event, the British Open, in the under-19 category.
Aboul Magd drew up a lifetime plan for Egyptian girls in 1992. It worked wonders after Salma Shabana, Maha Zein and Mai Hegazi took third place in the World Junior Team Championship in Malaysia in 1993.
As a team, they reached fourth place in 2000. Then the second generation of Khairallah, El- Amir, Nesreen Nashaat and Abdel-Kawi took the world junior team championship in 1999.
Aboul Magd said the first generation was "tiring and difficult. They had to prove themselves wherever they went."
"Then came the second generation who had an example to follow. The third generation are the juniors who captured all the titles in the last world championship. Just give them time and wait and see."
As for the so-called G3, Aboul Magd predicts they will win the world junior championship singles and team events next year and improve their world ranking to third or even second.
(photos: Hossam Diab)
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