The best right now
By
Inas Mazhar
Squash is at present the most successful sport in Egypt. The country currently has four players in the world's top 20 club: Amr Shabana is No.5 in the world, Karim Darwish is 9, Omar El- Borrollosi 13 and Mohamed Abbas is listed at No.16.
The federation has 10 national teams -- five for men and five for women starting from under-13. In almost every age category, there is at least one world class player.
The latest example of brilliance came at the British junior championship in which Egyptians claimed half the titles, winning first place in four of the eight events.
Egypt was runner-up in six events and took third place in three events. The country was fourth in two events and fifth in five events. In all, Egyptians reached the semi-final in all eight events in England.
Much of the recent success should go to Ahmed Barada who three years ago reached an Egyptian high world No.3 and probably could have climbed to the very top had he not quit the sport at age 23 after failing to recover from a knife assault by a deranged fan in 2001.
Almost single-handedly Barada, who was dubbed the "Egyptian Pharaoh", made squash popular in Egypt. He was young, had good looks and was a world class champion. The trio of factors helped attract fans and sponsors alike. International championships like Al- Ahram, Heliopolis and Maadi were guaranteed to succeed if Barada merely showed up.
When Barada was forced into early retirement, the game's popularity faded. The same championships failed to shine as much. Most of all, sponsors could not find another Barada in which to invest their money.
Mohamed El-Menshawi, president of the Egyptian Squash Federation, says it took the federation three years to introduce another Barada in the form of Amr Shabana, the 24-year- old who stunned the squash world by winning the world championship in Pakistan last month.
"It's not as easy as people think," El- Menshawi said. "We had lots of problems. With Barada's retirement, sponsors disappeared. Barada used to receive LE1 million in sponsorship money alone while the federation's budget is only LE1.5 million and we have to distribute it among hundreds of players."
To keep the sport from sinking, the federation was forced to create a league championship and increase the number of clubs from only seven, three years ago, to 13. The aim is to raise it to 30 by the end of this year. "Participating in international championships abroad for juniors was an incentive to these players to continue playing and develop their skills," El-Menshawi added.
With Shabana winning the world title and Karim Darwish coming in third place El- Menshawi is optimistic that the game will once more attract sponsors as well as young players who view the two as their idols. The game is pinning high hopes on Shabana and Darwish and is confident that with more attention from the media and the Ministry of Youth, Egypt could soon have the world's two best players.
