The year 2017 will come to an end in a few days, leaving great memories for Egyptian sports at the local and international levels. Daily News Egypt sheds light on Egypt's major sports achievements in 2017. Egypt qualified for 2018 World Cup in Russia Egypt succeeded in qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia—the first time in 28 years—after a 2-1 victory over Congo. Egypt led its World Cup qualification Group E with 13 points, beating Ghana, Uganda, and Congo. The Egyptian national team was drawn to play against Saudi Arabia, Russia (the host), and Uruguay in Group A of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The Pharaohs also reached the final of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations held in January in Gabon after seven years of absence. The national team, led by Argentinian coach Hector Cuper, presented strong performances and secured the second place in the African tournament after losing to Cameroon in the final match 2-0. Farag and El Tayeb make history at US open squash Egyptian couple Ali Farag and Nour El Tayeb wrote their names into the history books as they triumphed at the 2017 US Open to become the first married couple in sporting history ever to win the same major sports title on the same day. The duo—who married last year—defied the odds to defeat higher seeded and higher ranking opposition to secure the titles, the first PSA World Series titles of both of their careers. The PSA World Series Squash Finals is the end of season championship of the PSA World Tour of male professional squash players and of the WSA World Tour of female professional squash players. Farida Osman won Egypt's first medal in swimming Farida Osman made a historic achievement by winning Egypt's first medal in swimming during the World Championship held in Budapest. By winning her first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) medal in the US, Osman has proved herself to be the third fastest butterfly swimmer in history. Her swim, which lasted 50.5 seconds, was reported to be the seventh fastest overall swim in history. Osman won the Best Female Athlete from Africa at the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Awards 2017 held in Prague, Czech Republic, in recognition of her outstanding sporting achievements. Egypt made history in weightlifting championships Egypt's weightlifting champions made many unique achievements during 2017. The national team won 15 gold medals in the African Championship for weightlifting held in Mauritius from 10 to 18 July. Shaima Khalaf and Dina Barakat each won three gold medals, while Mohamed Ehab and Ragab Abdel Hay achieved six gold medals. Ahmed Abdel Aziz also won three gold medals in men's over 105 kg competition. Moreover, Egypt's weightlifter Sara Samir copped the gold medal in the International World Federation (IWF) World Championships in Anaheim, California. Egypt's weightlifter Mohamed Ehab gave the country its first gold medal at the IWF Championship in 66 years, winning three gold medals in Anaheim. Ehab emerged the winner in the snatch, clean, and jerk, and the total results in the men's 77kg category to make history for Egypt. Egypt wins at both men and women's squash championships Egyptian duo Ramy Ashour and Nour El-Sherbini won the 2017 China Squash Open after beating compatriots Ali Farag and Nouran Gohar respectively. The tournament took place in Shanghai, China from 31 August to 3 September. Egyptian couple Ali Farag and Nour El Tayeb made history on 14 October as they triumphed at the 2017 US Open to become the first married couple in sporting history ever to win the same major sports title on the same day. The Egyptian squash team won the World Squash Championship title after defeating their English counterpart 2-0 in the final round of the tournament in Marseille, France. The national team won the title for the fourth time in its history after having achieved it three times in the years 1999, 2009, and 2011, while losing the last title of 2013 to the English team. Egyptian champion Hania Al-Hamami also claimed the biggest title of her career and her first title since 2015, as she was crowned winner of the Slaight Music Granite Open after her opponent and compatriot, world number 65 Yathreb Adel, was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. The injury of Adel forced the player to withdraw, giving the title to teammate Hania Al-Hamami. Mohamed El-Shorbagy and Raneem Al-Welily clinched the men's and women's PSA World Squash Championships titles for the first time in 2017. El-Shorbagy made history with his brother, Marwan El-Shorbagy, as the first siblings to reach a PSA World Championships final. Mohamed defeated his brother Marwan 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 in the final of the 2017 PSA Men's Squash World Championship held in Manchester. In the women's final, world number two Raneem ended compatriot and world No. 1 Nour El Sherbini's two-year reign as world champion with a 3-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-5 win, to seal a world title after losing in 2014 and 2016. Big Ramy won silver medal at Mr. Olympia Egyptian bodybuilder Ramy Al Sibiay, also known as "Big Ramy", came second in Mr. Olympia, an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation of Body Building and Fitness (IFBB). The Egyptian champion came second behind Phil Heath, who won his seventh Mr. Olympia title. Ramy's medal was Egypt's first in the history of Mr. Olympia. Egypt wins 2 silver medals at World Taekwondo in France Two Egyptian athletes won silver medals during their participation in the 13th French Open World Taekwondo tournament. Hedaya Malak snatched a 67 kg silver medal, while Mohamed Farag yanked a 58 kg silver in the tournament. Malak previously won the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. Egypt reaps 15 medals in the World Karate Championship Egypt came in second place at the World Karate Championships, for youth under 21 and juniors, and won a total of 15 medals at the competitions that took place in the Spanish city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife from 25 to 29 October. The national karate team, which participated with 35 players, achieved seven bronze, five gold, and three silver medals. Egypt wins gold at Tashkent Grand Judo Championship Egypt's Ramadan Darwish won the under 100 kg gold medal at the 2017 Tashkent Grand Prix after defeating Niyaz Ilyasov of Russia in the final. The 29-year-old Darwish, who won the Grand Prix in Qingdao (2009), Tashkent (2014), and Budapest (2015), is the top seed in his weight class. He had previously represented Egypt in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.
