Nashwa Abdel-Tawab walks the route taken in the making of a champion and talks to the star's makers From Alexandria, which spawned Athens Olympic wrestling gold medallist Karam Gaber, comes another born and bred champion resident of the Mediterranean coastal city, world junior squash champion Raneem El-Walili. El-Walili, 16 who became the world junior champion a month ago in Belgium, is a squashant on her e- mail address, a girl making sandcastles on beach, a student taking her education seriously, and on the courts, fierce and focussed. Off the courts, she's doing her homework while eating home-made food. At home, she's having a nap and later, long silent chats with the sea. Born on New Year's eve in 1989 to architect parents Mohamed Yasser and Reem, El-Walili had a caring and understanding family. And a sports family too. Her grandfather, Mohamed Mansi, also known as Zuzu Mansi, was the famed basketball player in the sixties and a current coach. "Sport is something essential," Reem Mansi told Al-Ahram Weekly. "It's not only to keep fit or develop a skill but it's a lifetime investment and character development." Unlike other mothers, Mansi thinks sports is as important as education. "Education will come sooner or later but being a champion doesn't come while stretching on the beach with a book to read." Despite her beliefs, Reem Mansi gave her children a classy education in German schools where team work, projects and attendance was a must. Fate played its part in El-Walili taking up squash. "Since we live in Alexandria, the courts are always wet in winter, so I decided to choose an indoor game like squash for my kids to play regularly," explained Mansi who was fascinated by the glamour of squash at that time. It was 1994 and Ahmed Barada had won the world junior championship. "I felt as if this is the sport I wanted for my kids where they can prove themselves." Mansi enrolled her son Tameem first. He was almost three years older than El-Walili. Despite her age, predictions of stardom were made by those who saw El-Walili first toy with a racquet at age six. "I chose squash but at the same time I didn't," El-Walili said philosophically in an interview with the Weekly. "At the beginning my parents chose squash for my brother so I used to go and watch him from behind the glass partition. But I also watched other players which helped me a lot. I watched squash for two years, memorised the moves and developed a technique. I liked the sport and got on court when Ahmed Abdallah, my brother's coach, thought I could be something." At the age of seven El-Walili came third in her first competition, then became the national under 10 champion. El-Walili likes team sports, especially football and handball. "People only see squash as a one-player show but that's not the case. No one ever thought that behind the player there's a team which helped the player become a champion. To me squash is still a team sport where my trainers, psychologist and family made a champion." El-Walili listed her coaches who added to her skills: Medhat Galal, Mosaad Abdel-Wahab, Ahmed Taher, Magdi Saad, Zakaria Moheiddin and Walid El-Mosalami, plus her manager Omar El-Borollossi and her sports psychologist Ahmed Salah who helped improve her mental toughness. El-Walili's mentor in court is Sarah Fitzgerald and in life it is her parents. "My family made a champion out of nothing and have always supported me. Then there are my friends whom I always talk to when I am down and those to whom you tell everything," El-Walili added. "My family taught me to love what I do and to give it my time with the fullest attention. So when I found myself in love with squash, I gave it my time and I think this is the basic skill to have when you play a sport. "The ability to love the game and be patient and never get bored from too much training, these are difficult skills to attain if you want to be a champion, plus working hard and being serious. If so, you will learn to concentrate so much so that you won't lose what you gained. A good squash player should be a good athlete, a tough player with a style, and focussed on victory." El-Walili attributed her victory to her serious devotion to the game. "I concentrated on my target and I didn't have a normal life like any other teenager. I trained while others were having fun and enjoying their summer." In Belgium in the world championship El-Walili took it match by match. "You have to keep in mind that every match can be very tough," El-Walili said, "but I think the toughest matches during the individual world championship were the last three." In the quarter finals she played Lily Lorentzen from the US. Lorentzen was stronger, faster and taller but El-Walili still managed to sweep her 3-0 (9/7, 9/5, 9/4). In the semi-finals she met Tenille Swartz from South Africa, the hardest match in El-Walili's opinion. "The girl was good; she was able to reach every ball and her shots were very good. "I was 2-0 down and till now I still don't know how I was able to finally win 3-2." El-Walili beat Swartz 4/9, 6/9, 9/5, 9/7, 9/3. The final match was with Indian champion Joshna Chinappa. "At the beginning I was so scared until I saw her face," said El-Walili. "It was so white and pale, and that's when I knew that she was more frightened than I was, which gave me confidence. El-Walili won 9/3, 9/4, 10/8 for the world title. "As for the team event, I think all the matches were easy for us except for the very last match when we lost to Hong Kong, but they were really too good. "My future plan is to keep my title in two years [until she reaches 18] and to achieve a better rank in the ladies events," El-Walili hopes. She says there are not many good Egyptian women in squash or in any other sport "because they just get bored or they start to study so they have something else more important in their lives." Medhat Galal, her coach since 2001 in Alexandria Sporting Club, had a hunch from the beginning that El-Walili would be a world champion. He attributed that to certain qualities. "She is really committed to training even at the expense of other things or even her teen life," said Galal. "Everything is calculated: four hours of squash a day, even if there are exams, maintenance of the courts or rain, she's always there. "As for her style, El-Walili plays with flair and it was squash which captured her imagination," Galal, who was Barada's coach when he was eight years old until he became a champion, said. "Her patience in this sport in which composure is vital gave her a big push." When the federation refused to spend money on El-Walili's preparation for the world championship because of financial problems, her family turned to her manager El-Borollossi, world junior runner up in 1994 and founder of Academy Squash in Wadi Digla Club in Maadi, for advice. He suggested playing three senior competitions before the world junior championship. Reem Mansi accompanied her daughter during her Women's International Squash Professional Association (WISPA) tournaments in three countries. Sporting Club, heeding Galal's advice, shared in the expenses, hoping it will pay off later. The risk ended in a world champion. El-Walili came second in France. She won in Luxembourg beating Spanish champion Olga Sola in the final then lost her first match in Holland. She joined the junior team in Germany and also played in Hurghada Open as preparation. "She has to play with squash champions to focus more and gain experience. This won't be attained by playing juniors all the time," said Mansi. "I'm fed up with the line, 'she's talented'," said Mansi. "She can be a world champion, I was constantly told, but nobody told me how, and that puzzled me a lot." Mansi started searching in every nook and cranny for genuine help. She found it in El-Borollossi. He gave her advice in both sports psychology as well as competitions. "Sports psychology was something new for me," said Mansi, "I didn't understand its importance until after El-Walili's sessions with Dr Ahmed Salah who provided her with mental training. "Any player has a body, mind and skills," said Salah. "It's my job to work on the mind. I give some tips and strategies to follow to develop their mental toughness." Salah, who was Barada's psychologist, found in El-Walili unique material. "El-Walili is talented, rare to find, cannot be repeated, and has ambition. She's talented, mysterious, focussed and tough. She's hard to read in court so her moves are unexpected and highly effective. Despite her age, El-Walili is a model for all generations." El-Walili leads a quiet life. She adores privacy, never interfering in other people's lives. People have nothing but praise for her commitment, dedication and perseverance. Unlike some of her friends, she humbly gave herself an e-mail with the word "squashant" in it, not a squash queen for example. But whether she likes it or not she is now -- and for some time to come -- a squash princess.
