Evolution of squash
By
Inas Mazhar
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Egypt's young star Abdel-Qawi is sending ripples through the squash world with her spectacular play
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For the first time in its own history of the sport, Egypt is playing host this week to the 10th World Junior Women's Squash Championship -- a 13-day event which has gathered 128 players and 16 teams from around the world. Having played host to the men's championship in past years, the event marks a step forward -- for Egyptian squash, sports, and women. Inas Mazhar was there to take in the excitement.
"This is a huge event and another challenge for Egyptian squash," Mohamed El-Menshawi, president of the Egyptian Squash Association (ESA), told the press. "The World Squash Championships are considered great events for both the host nation and the interested entities concerned with that extraordinary sport. It's also another challenge for the players and the organising committees of the WJW 2003."
El-Menshawi -- the youngest-ever national federation president at 35 -- recalled the history of Egyptian squash: "Some years ago, the dormant giant that had once been elite Egyptian squash awoke, shook itself and took the youthful road to long- term success," he began. "Some great names from Egypt grace the annals. But the production line stopped 20 years ago, and it wasn't until the beginning of the 1990s that real time, effort and expenditure were invested in some future stars. It worked," he continued. "Suddenly in 1994, the traditional strong countries were ousted by Egypt in the World Junior Men's team championship, and not only that, but Ahmed Barrada and Omar El-Borrollosi dominated the individual final in an all-Egyptian final that was won by Barrada. Faizy claimed the individual title in 1996 and Karim Darwish in 2000."
Egypt's leap to international stardom shook the international sports world. But there was something strikingly missing -- it involved only men. Until now.
"Egyptian women's squash has shown great progress lately," El- Menshawi said. "There may not yet have been the number of landmark titles in the older age groups, but young players such as Omneya Abdel-Qawi and her teammates have already made their mark and there are strong foundations for the women's future. Those fortunate enough to have been in Antwerp, Belgium at the World Junior Women's Team Championships, saw Injy Kheirallah, Eman El-Amir and Abdel- Qawi beat Malaysia in a thrilling semifinal before beating England in the final," he said.
The support women's squash has received in recent years -- both from the Egyptian Federation and the Al-Ahram organisation -- has started to show signs of returns. Of the 128 players competing in the event, nine are Egyptian. The players are competing in the Individual Championship -- scheduled to end tomorrow. Team events will start immediately the following day, with Egypt's Omneya Abdel- Qawi going in as the tournament's top seed, and Amna El-Tarabolssi as the third seed. The second seed -- Omneya's main arch rival -- is Casey Brown of Australia. Country seeding prior to the tournaments start were as follows: Egypt, England, Australia, India, Spain, Malaysia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, USA, Scotland, Germany, Wales, Ireland, Switzerland and Mexico. Seedings change in accordance with individual results -- if Abdel-Qawi loses and drops her top spot, so too does Egypt its number one notch.
Tournament referee Sameh El-Sayed, spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly about the structure of tournament play.
"The 128 players who competed in the first round on Sunday were reduced to 64 who played in the afternoon of the same day in the second round of the main draw," he said. "All matches are based on a knock-out system. However," he continued, "first round losers play a plate, losers of the plate play a consolidating plate. Second round losers play a classic plate," he said, explaining that each player in the tournament has to play a minimum of three matches.
"Players can't come all the way to the World Championship just to play one match and then leave in the case of a defeat," he explained. "So a plate of two matches for first round losers is played."
The tournament structure gives the young women extra play, and more time to mingle.
"It's wonderful for the girls," said WSF technical director, Jackie Robinson, commending what she called a "brilliant" idea. "And good to see women in Egypt coming through in this part of the world. It's good to take the championship to different parts of the world."
Robinson said that Egypt was blessed with the facilities for such a great event -- a rarity in this part of the world.
"The tournament will be a success," she assured.
Success for Egypt is confirmed. Even if the nation does not clinch the championship title, they have certainly taken the international squash world's approval for a task well done. And Egypt's young ambassadors, such as Abdel-Qawi and Tarabolssi, have been given praise by the squash officials gathered from around the globe.
