Egypt is favoured to win the Women's World Squash Team Championship in Paris after they lost it to England in Malaysia in 2014. Since then, Egypt has dominated the sport, boasting three players among the world's top four. The team includes a number of stars not found anywhere, including current world No 1 Nour Al-Sherbini and Nouran Gohar, No 3, who has won the World Teams twice in the juniors. This will be her first cap at the senior level. “Of course I am very happy to have been selected,” Gohar told the press. Having the opportunity to represent my country, especially in a senior event, is a very special feeling and it always makes me proud.” Gohar became the youngest player ever to win a World Series event in Hong Kong in August. Raneem Al-Welili who just won the World Champion title and Omneya Abdel-Qawi, will be playing their seventh WWTC together. In fact, Abdel-Qawi will be featuring for the 10th time in an event she's been playing in since the age of 13. Egypt had two or more players in the semi-finals in the last 10 World Series events. In the junior categories, Egypt won the last five World Junior Team Championships and 11 of the 12 last individual events. In the light of this, everyone expects the Egyptians to be the winners in Paris. It is not only the story of the players but the team under head coach Amr Shabana, the former world No 1 and four-time world champion. “England is the team that holds the title and they have a strong squad,” Shabana said. “But there is also Malaysia, France and many others. It won't be an easy competition, that's for sure.” In the Women's Championships, Australia and England have met in 13 of the 19 finals. But they were recently replaced by Egypt, who made the top four three times in a row before reaching their first finals in 2006. In 2006 Egypt lost 2-0 to England in Edmonton, Canada, as Abdel-Qawi had to retire against Tania Bailey and Vicky Botwright was able to beat Engi Kheirallah. The English player came back from 2-1 down to win in five games after a marathon match (77 minutes). Al-Welili recounted her memories of the event. “The first time I actually participated in the Women's World Team Championship was in 2004. I was No 4 in the squad and therefore didn't play many matches but I learned a lot. So moving to No 3 in 2006 was a big step. Omneya and Engi were such great examples for me and to be in the team with them was very exciting for me. It was also the very first time ever that Egypt made it to the finals, so that was a big achievement for us.” In 2008, Egypt took revenge, beating England 2-1 in the event played in Cairo. It was a dramatic final as all the English players were higher ranked than their Egyptian counterparts but Abdel-Qawi opened the winning streak by beating Jenny Duncalf in straight games. Then Laura Lengthorn-Massaro beat Al-Welili in five sets. The decider was dramatic as England's second string Alison Waters twice took the lead before Kheirallah drew level. The Egyptian faced a match-ball at 9-10 in the fifth but won the point on a stroke, before moving onto her own match-ball at 11-10 – which she won when a ball off the back wall from Waters failed to reach the front wall. Kheirallah recounted: “It was different that time as we were playing at home and everybody was there to support us. But nobody expected Egypt to beat England for the first time. It was very big and people went insane. Omneya had won the first match, then Al-Welili lost. It was then my turn to go on court to play the deciding match. I lost the first game so comprehensively that I thought we had lost. But I remember I made the biggest comeback of my career and played my best squash ever. It's probably one of my best sporting memories.” The same scenario was repeated in 2012 in France, when Egypt overcame England 2-1 again and the final went to the wire. Second seeds Egypt recovered from a match down to upset favourites England and win the first WWTC held in France. England got off to a good start when Waters beat Al-Sherbini in five games in the first ever meeting between the two world top 10 players. In the top string duel, Laura Massaro took the early lead but Al-Welili was able to take her revenge from 2008 and closed the match in four games including two tie-breaks. The pattern of the first two matches was repeated in the decider when Jenny Duncalf again put England ahead by winning the first game against Abdel-Qawi. But her long-time rival moved ahead by taking the next two games. Duncalf fought hard to draw level – and in the decider won five points in a row to move 7-4 up. But Abdel-Qawi produced a remarkable effort to win 11-8 victory and bring a second world title to her country. Abdel-Qawi recalled, “2012 is another one of my best sporting memories. So I told myself to give everything I had. I decided I would do absolutely everything I could before getting off court so that at least I wouldn't let anyone down. My matches with Laura are usually close in scores so this was no surprise, but my win meant that we were now were tied at 1-1. The last deciding match was epic, so close all the way to the end, but all were very happy that I managed to win. I was very happy that day. ”
