President of the Egyptian Squash Federation Assem Khalifa speaks to Ghada Abdel-Kader about the challenges that face the sport in Egypt Egypt has a long, notable history in squash. The ESF was founded in 1931. It took very little time for the federation to produce the first prominent squash champion in the world, Abdel-Fattah Pasha Amr, known as Amr Bey. Amr Bey moved to England in 1928 as a diplomat. Having never played squash before he was introduced to the sport while in the United Kingdom. At that time, King Farouk sent him to compete in the British Open Championship. He dominated the British Open Men's Championship winning six consecutive times from 1933 to 1938. Amr Bey also won the British Amateur Championship six times from 1931-1933 and from 1935-1937. Mahmoud Effendi Abdel-Karim (1916-1969) was an Egyptian world professional squash champion, winning the British Open men's title four consecutive times from 1947-1950. Abdel-Karim was only disrupted by the rise of Pakistani squash legend Hashim Khan. He refused to participate in the British Open again after Khan defeated him two times in the final. Afterwards, Abdel-Karim moved to Canada to become a squash pro at the Montreal Athletic Association. He died in Canada in 1999 at the age of 83. The claim to fame of Gamal Awad, another of Egypt's legends, was playing the longest game at that time, against Pakistani world No 1 Jahangir Khan. The match, in 1983 in the Chichester Open, lasted two hours, 46 minutes, with the first game alone lasting another record, one hour 11 minutes. Khan prevailed in the end, winning 9-10, 9-5, 9-7, 9-2. Known as rubber man and the grasshopper, Awad died of a heart attack in 2004 at 49. In the late 1990s, Egyptian squash player Ahmed Barada began his climb up the PSA World Rankings, reaching number 78 when he was just 16 years old. He finished runner-up at both the World Open and the Super Series finals in 1999. His career-high world ranking was World No 2, which he reached in December 1998. Barada won the British Open four consecutive times from 1991-1994. In 2000, Barada was stabbed by an unknown assailant outside his home in Cairo. Following his recovery from the injury, Barada had a short-lived comeback, before officially announcing his retirement from the game in August 2001. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Assem Khalifa, president of the ESF, fielded the following questions: What has the impact of the revolution been on squash? Despite all what is happening, Egyptian players and teams are still dominating squash worldwide. Why? Squash was hugely affected by the revolution. Last year, due to civil unrest in Egypt, the International Squash Federation (WSF) was forced to relocate the Women's Junior World championship. It was supposed to be held in Cairo from 20-30 July but was moved to Boston. Despite the challenges, Egypt succeeded in retaining the title after beating the US in the final. In the wake of the revolution, the players didn't train on a regular basis. Parents were afraid to leave their children late at night. So, the ESF took some precautionary measures to reduce the local season. It made us able to maintain our level. The Egyptians also have a natural talent for squash. How can the ESF under these circumstances continue to achieve good results with a limited budget? It's a matter of management, how to manage. I learned this from my practical experience. Although Egypt has the best squash players in the world it's still not very popular like football in Egypt. Why? On the contrary, it is very popular for certain categories of people. Parents believe that it is a very important sport for their children. A big advantage for squash is the athlete becomes a world champion at a young age after a short period of time, seven or eight years, unlike any other sport in which you can spend your whole life trying to achieve this. Is it possible that squash becomes an Olympic sport? We are doing our best but up until now we cannot guarantee this. Once it becomes an Olympic sport the number of participating countries will increase and the level of the competition will be furious. Is it true that squash is only for the elite class? Squash is one of the most dynamic, fastest and most difficult sports, so it requires physical fitness. In order to compete on the professional level it needs money. Basic equipment is expensive. Practicing squash as a hobby is not costly but it is to compete. Does the ESF have any future plan to establish a squash academy? Egypt is among the top countries in squash in the world. We receive many requests from various countries to hold training camps with our athletes. I think it is a very good idea. It will be a good financial source for the federation. Now, we are in a preparatory stage. ESF will launch a website in English. Also, we will make use of former squash players to help us deal with foreign players. The academy will be outside the capital because it needs certain facilities. We have very good locations in Ain Al-Sokhna, Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh.
