Squash: On the Court

There are few countries in the world that have the talent and determination to dominate a major sport for a substantial length of time but Egypt is the king of men’s squash, the fastest and most athletic sport ever developed. With numerous Egyptian juniors
coming up the ranks to meet the leaders, the crown is unlikely to tarnish in the foreseeable future. Currently, there are six Egyptian players in the top 20 Dunlop PSA World Rankings, Ramy Ashour, Karim Darwish, Amr Shabana, Wael El Hindi,Mohamed El
Shorbagy and Omar Mosaad, an unprecedented number for one country. However, the global appeal of squash has diminished since the golden era of the 1980’s and ‘90s when Jahangir and Jansher Khan of Pakistan dominated the courts; after that local hero, the brilliant young Ahmed Barada took the centre of the stage of world squash. He finished runner up at both the World Open and the Super Series Finals in 1999 losing in both finals to England’s Peter Nicol. His career high world ranking was World No. 2, which he reached in December 1998.

One of the first major investments made in the sport recently will be the ATCO PSA World Series Finals which will take place between 11th and 15th January, which is the culmination of the 2010 PSA Super Series tour. The event, formerly known as the Super Series Finals, will see the world’s eight top male players competing for the Tour Championship title and the highest first prize ever played for in the UK and Europe. The new series is the brain child of Ziad Al-Turki, an enigmatic Saudi entrepreneur and Executive VP of Abdulrahman. A. Turki Group of Companies (ATCO), one of KSA’s premier family groups.
Al-Turki has promised a “new era for the popularity of Squash” with the launch of the ATCO PSA World Series Squash Finals at The Queen’s Club in London in January next year.

“Squash for me is a sport which is incredibly fast paced, exciting and a test of both physical and mental strength,” Al-Turki has said. “I believe that given the right investment and support, squash can become one of the most exciting and loved sports.
However, Ziad Al-Turki is certainly not alone in his desire to see a change of fortune for the thrilling sport. Red Bull, the energy drink company, planned a squash tournament in collaboration with the Egyptian Squash Federation to be played at the Luxor Temple using a highly competitive and unprecedented game format. The tournament, starring eight of the top squash players in the world was simply entitled, ‘Squash Temple’.

Red Bull Squash Temple
At a pre-event press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel at Nile Plaza, Hesham Aboul Kheir, Red Bull’s country manager, said that this event is part of Red Bull’s efforts to support sports in Egypt and also to project a good image of the country to the world.
Aboul Kheir added that the unusual location and game format of the tournament are true to Red Bull’s spirit that always strives to organise unusual athletic events.
“We chose to make the tournament in a place that will show the world Egypt’s civilization, and also make a statement that we’re not only Pharos but we have world class athletes,” said Aboul Kheir.

From 19th November, for three consecutive evenings, the backdrop of the tournament was the Temple of Luxor. The temple is a great temple complex built in Thebes, modern day Luxor and was dedicated to Amun, a creator God often fused with the sun god Ra into Amun-Ra. Construction began during the reign of Amenhotep III in the 14th century BC. Horemheb and Tutankhamun added columns, statues and friezes; Akhenaten had earlier obliterated his father’s cartouches and installed a shrine to the Aten.
With the matches being played after sundown, there could be few more spectacular settings for an event with the floodlit columns towering above the all glass squash court.

Eight players took part. Ramy Ashour who reached world No. 1 in January, 2010 after winning the 2009 Saudi International Squash Tournament. At 22 he became the youngest player to achieve world No. 1 since the era of Jahangir and Jansher Khan, having
previously been the first two time World Junior Squash champion. In July 2006, he became the first player in squash history to win the World Junior Championships twice.

Amr Shabana who was voted PSA Player of the Year in 2006 an 2007 and won the World Open in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009 reaching Dunlop PSA World Ranking No. 1 in 2006 and is currently ranked No. 5.
As a junior player, Red Bull Athlete Karim Darwish, currently ranked No. 3, won the British Junior Open title in 1999 and World Junior Championship title in 2000. He reached No. 1 ranking in January 2009 and the same year led Egypt to a long awaited victory in the World Team Championships. The three veteran players were joined by 2010 World Junior Champion, Amr Khalid Khalifa who was born on 27th November 1992 in Cairo.

From overseas, French 2004 World Champion Thierry Lincou, ranked 7th in the world, is joined by the Britons, James Willstrop, currently ranked No. 4, the 2009 Grand Prix winner and 2005 World No. 2 and Daryl Selby ranked No. 10 and the Australian 2001 World Champion, David Palmer currently with the Dunlop PSA ranking of No. 9.
Instead of the normal match format comprising of five 11-point games, the Squash Temple matches were just a single round and the final match would be won by the first player to reach five points. There were two pools of players with matches held over the first two days and the top two player in each pool progressed to the semi finals.

The athletes played for a first prize of US$ 40,000 the highest amount paid to an individual in the history of the sport, a second prize of US$ 20,000 and a third prize of US$10,000 with all other participants receiving US$ 5,000.
Karim Darwish said that the short durations of the matches would force the players to do their best from the start of the match and would create a more entertaining and thrilling tournament. “We thought that the best way to create really thrilling tournament was to make the final match only five points and double the cash prize from the 2nd to 1st place,” Darwish added.

Assem Khalifa, head of the Egyptian Squash Federation, believes that the tournament will help increase the popularity of squash in Egypt. “This tournament will create much needed marketing for squash in Egypt which we can’t accomplish with our limited resources. When we found a sponsor company to help us we were delighted to accept,” said Khalifa. Mohamed El Menshawy, a vice president of the International Squash Federation, said that the tournament is a very important event as it will give the Federation the opportunity to experiment with new scoring systems and new ways of marketing for the game.

The Dramatic Climax: A Triumph for Darwish
After two evenings of thrills and upsets, the audience waited with bated breath for the final outcome of the tournament and they were not disappointed. Five points was all it took for Karim Darwish to claim the biggest ever top prize for a squash competition
when the Red Bull sponsored world number three beat Ramy Ashour 5/4 in the “sudden death” final of the
Red Bull Squash Temple.
After the pool matches, it was the top three Egyptians Ashour, Darwish, and Amr Shabana plus Australian David Palmer who progressed to the semi finals. James Willstrop, Daryl Selby, Thierry Lincou and Amr Khaled Khalif having failed to reach the semi finals were left with $5,000 each while the semi finalists knew that losing would earn them $10,000 but victory could bring at least $20,000 and hopefully $40,000.

Darwish made quick work of double world champion Palmer with a 5/1 win, while Ashour beat reigning world champion Shabana 5/3 to set up the dream final for Egyptian fans. It went all the way too and at four all both knew that the next point was worth $20,000.
The players and event were strongly supported by the Luxor Governorate and Al-Ahram Advertising Agency. Governor Samir Farag attended the Squash Temple every evening. “We are so pleased to have this competition here because this is the first time to have such an event in Upper Egypt”, he said. “The people are happy and proud to have this in Luxor. You see that there are a lot of tourists here watching so we are pleased for us and also for tourism.”
Also in the audience were Assem Khalifa, head of the Egyptian Squash Federation and Vice Presidents of the International Squash Federation, Egypt’s Mohamed El Menshawy and Chris Stahl from the UK.

The Up and Coming Amr Khalid Khalifa
Amr Khalid Khalifa was born on 27th November, 1992 in Cairo. He won the prestigious British Junior Open Under 15 category in 2007, the Under 19 in the British Junior Open in 2009 and German Junior Under 19 Open in 2010.
In a dramatic climax to the 2010 Men’s World Junior Team Squash Championship in the Ecuador capital Quito, Amr Khaled Khalifa became the new world individual.
In the final: [1] Amr Khaled Khalifa (EGY) beat [2] Ali Farag (EGY) 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 (60m) Third place play off: Marwan El Shorbagy (EGY) beat Farhan Zaman (PAK) 15-17, 11-6, 12-10, 14-12.
Khalifa reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 80 in April 2010.
Just a few days off from his 18th birthday, participating in the Red Bull Squash Temple gave Khalifa the opportunity of playing some of the world’s greatest players over three days which under normal circumstances might have taken him months or even years to achieve. It was an experience that most professionals at the start point of their career could dream about.
Day two of the tournament saw an upset result when Khalifa beat Thierry Lincou - 11/4. When he was congratulated by Sports & Fitness magazine, he grinned, “I played really well,” he said, without a hint of arrogance but reflecting his surprise of having made such short work of the French veteran in a thrilling match.