Wael takes El Ahly title
Amhed Said reports from Cairo
The Ahly Open Squash championship was finalized today
(01-Feb) with the participation of 339 players representing 13 clubs
from all over Egypt. The championship was held at the Cairo Stadium
in Egypt. Among the players are 239 junior boys, 67 junior girls,
and 33 male players.
The clubs involved were Ahly, Shams, Sporting, Semouha, Maadi, Wadi
Degla, Seid, Zohour, Tanta, Haras Elhedoud, Heliopolis, Gezira and
Police Union Club.
The championship involved 8 contests:
Under 11 years (boys and girls)
Under 13 years (boys and girls)
Under 15 years (boys)
Under 17 years (boys)
Under 19 years (boys)
Men
The male contest was widely viewed and very attractive for the
audience due to the participation of the famous 4 professional
players of the Ahly Club namely:
1. Amr Shabana (world champion and ranked no 1 worldwide)
2. Wael Hatem [El Hindi] (ranked number 10 worldwide)
3. Mohamed Abbas (ranked number 14 worldwide)
4. Omar Abdel Aziz (ranked number 39 worldwide)
Indeed those players made it to the semi-finals of the championship
and Wael Hatem won the final round after an unprecedented surprise
after beating world champion Amr Shabana 3/2 in a game which lasted
97 minutes (6/9, 9/1, 9/6, 4/9, 9/4). World referee, Nasser
Zahran, managed the match.
The match was very much enjoyed and appreciated by the audience and
the remaining players participating in the championship, as the
performance of the players was very strong and very professional
with lots of technical tactics.
This match is more or less considered as the first appearance of Amr
Shabana within the local Egyptian Squash activity. Shabana expressed
his happiness about participating in the Egyptian Ahly club
championship especially that he is playing under the name of the
Ahly club. Although Amr Shabana and the remaining team of Wael Hatem,
Mohamed Abbas and Omar Abdelaziz were committed to many
international professional championships, the team was very much
interested to participate in the local Ahly Squash championship
(MEN).
Wael Hatem also expressed from his side his happiness about
participating in this championship and winning its title. He also
assured that Shabana presented a very strong performance which is
considered as a very valuable squash lesson for the Egyptian squash
juniors. He also expressed his happiness about the participation and
interest of the audience to watch the match although the timing of
this match was a couple of hours before the football game of the
national Egyptian football team in the African Nations Cup
championship.
He also expressed that the winner of the championship is of no
importance since the whole previously mentioned team are belonging
to the Ahly club.
Mohamed Abbas won the 3rd place after beating Omar Abdelaziz 3/0 in
3rd/4th place playoff.
From another side, Abbas Kaoud (the technical squash advisor
at the Ahly club) expressed his extreme satisfaction and happiness
about the participation of the quartet in the championship
explaining that this is really a unique chance for the juniors to
watch those professionals playing live in the local championships
especially the world champion, Amr Shabana. He also wishes that the
same will be done as well by other world champions next year like
Ramy Ashour and Karim Darwish.
The following players from the following clubs claimed the first
places from each age group participating in the championship:
Under 11 girls: Dina Farid Ahly Club
Under 11 boys: Youssef Akram Shams Club
Under 13 girls: Yathreb Adel - Ahly Club
Under 13 boys: Shehab Essam Shams Club
Under 15 boys: Karim Aly Ahly Club
Under 17 boys: Ahmed Hosny Ahly Club
Under 19 boys: Andrew Wagih Heliopolis Club
After the final matches, the closing ceremony of the championship
involved the distribution of the cups and medals on the players with
the attendance of Khaled Elawady: Assistant Manager of Sports
activities at Al-Ahly club, Galal Allam: President of the
Egyptian Squash Federation, Abbas Kaoud: Technical squash
advisor at the Ahly club.
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