Rachel rules

Coming from down under, Rachel Grinham came out on top of the Hurghada squash championship. Inas Mazhar reports on the finals from the resort

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Abdel-Qawi, foreground, lost to Grinham in the final. Below, Abdel-Qawi receives her consolation prize (photos: Hossam Diyab)

Top seeded Australian Rachel Grinham blanked crowd favourite Omneya Abdel-Qawi of Egypt to win the 7th Hurghada International Squash Championship.

It took the Cairo-based Grinham just 41 minutes to beat the world's junior champion and Egypt's top player Abdel- Qawi 3-0 in the final of the one-week $20,000 event on Monday. The world's second ranked player won the match 9/5, 9/1, 9/4.

"I was concentrating more on the game than Omneya," Grinham said after winning the title and collecting first prize. "I wanted to win this time. Mentally I was more experienced and knew how to control the match. I tried to play better, hold control and whenever that happened she went on making errors."

However, the 27-year-old Australian, who has been playing professionally for Heliopolis Club for three years, said she admired Abdel-Qawi's talents. "She played very well in this championship, exceptionally well. She is still so young and has it all in front of her and I guess with more experience she'll win in the future. She is very talented and the Egyptians should be very proud of her."

"I really wanted to win the match," Abdel-Qawi told spectators after receiving her prize as runner-up. "I tried but I couldn't. Rachel was too strong. But I hope I will be here next year and will try to make it up."

Abdel-Qawi, seeded 12 in the world, was the third Egyptian to be beaten by Grinham in the tournament. In the first round, the Australian knocked out Salma Shabana in just 21 minutes 9/2, 9/1, 9/1 and in the second round outclassed Ingy Khairallah 9/3, 9/3, 9/2 in 38 minutes before defeating England's Alison Waters, the tournament's seventh seed, in 25 minutes 9/4, 9/2, 9/4.

The 19-year-old Abdel- Qawi, or Oni as she has been dubbed by the media and fans, had a difficult path to the final. Whereas she easily disposed of England's Dom Lloyd-Walter 9/2, 9/2, 9/6 in 35 minutes, she had a tough encounter with Wales' Tegwin Malik, the tournament's sixth seed, before coming out on top 3/9, 9/6, 9/4, 8/10 and 9/7 in 80 minutes, the longest match in the tournament. In the semi-finals, Abdel-Qawi needed 77 minutes and all her wits to down England's Rebecca Macree 9/5, 6/9, 9/0 and 10/8. Macree had been constantly complaining to the referee about calls, which seemed to unnerve Abdel-Qawi whose coach Ahmed El-Mataani shouted from the sidelines for his protégé to remain calm.

Abdel-Qawi has another opportunity to improve her ranking when she takes part in the $45,000 Brunei Open at the end of the month.

The tournament's main draw witnessed 16 players representing Australia, England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Malaysia, Pakistan and Egypt. The wide range of countries was evidence of how far the tournament had come. "Seven years ago, Al-Ahram organisation organised this championship with one aim: to bring to Egypt the world's top women players," Ibrahim Hegazi, deputy chairman of Al- Ahram Organising Committee and editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Al-Riyadi magazine, said. "This led to developing the level of women's squash as we did with the men. The top eight players used to come and play in the Grand Prix."

At the time Hegazi was referring to, there were no women players at world class level. Six years later and after the tournament's name was changed to Al-Ahram International Squash Championship, four Egyptians were playing in the main draw. Salma Shabana and Eman El-Amir lost in the main draw, Ingy Khairallah made it to the quarter-finals and Abdel-Qawi made it to the final.

"I can remember when all these players used to come to Hurghada to watch the world champions play," Hegazi said. "They were so young then. But we have succeeded. I believe that Omneya has succeeded and I believe she will become the champion soon."

Sameh El-Sayed, board member of the Egyptian Squash Federation and a member of the International Squash Federation's Competitions Committee, said women's squash in Egypt had seen much progress. "Ever since last year we began to gain the fruits of our hard work." The women won the world junior championship, beating Australia in the team final. Abdel-Qawi became the world champion. "Organising international championships like the Heliopolis Open and Hurghada International has really helped raise the level of women's squash in Egypt," El-Sayed said.

El-Sayed also said Abdel-Qawi's result was a big achievement. "The girl is still young. It is her first year in the women's circuit after she turned 19 and won the women's juniors world title. Now she is the world No 12 and this championship will give her more points, enough to take her to the top 10."

El-Sayed said that Khairallah has also accomplished good results by reaching the quarter-finals. "The federation is going in the right direction in women's squash. The girls have gained a lot of confidence after winning the world juniors title last year."

The players are currently preparing for the women's world championship for teams which will take place in Holland from 26 September to 2 October. Abdel-Qawi and Khairallah, together with two players who are not yet named, will represent Egypt. "We hope to achieve the same result as the juniors. But the women seniors event is stronger. Let's keep our fingers crossed," El-Sayed said.