Egyptian players on the rise in world squash map

The 2016 NAZA PSA Women's World Squash Championships, which concluded here yesterday, sees world number two Nour El Sherbini became the first Egyptian to bag the world title since 1976.

The 20-year-old Alexandria native defied the odds after stunning world number one and top seed, England's Laura Massaro; winning 6-11, 4-11, 11-3, 11-5 and 11-8 in the dramatic final battle which lasted 63 minutes at the Nicol David Arena, National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil here.

For the record, Sherbini failed in her first attempt to land the world title after losing to the 32-year-old Englishwoman in the 2013 edition in Penang.

Her victory certainly adds another feather in the cap after having won two titles – the Tournament of Champions in the United States in January and also the British Open title, last month.

Looking back at the achievement of Egyptian representatives in the tournament, the African country had indeed featured a pool of talented youngsters who were ready to step into the shoes of their current generation after showcasing a splendid performance against their illustrious opponent.

Cairo-born Nadine Shahin, 18, for instance, proved her prowess after reaching the second round of the tournament after knocking out world number 16, Jenny Duncalf of England, in the opening round, despite making her debut in the tournament.

She had earlier escaped two hurdles in the qualifying round; defeating Malaysia's youngster, S. Sivasangari 3-1 in the first match before stunning world number 25 Line Hansen of Denmark by the same result.

For Malaysian players, there is definitely a lot of work to do especially by the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) to groom more talented young players if they aim to catch up with Egypt.

SRAM president Huang Ying How when met by reporters after the final match, acknowledged there was a need for the association to double up their efforts to groom more youngsters to be at par with Egypt in the future.

"We have a strong grassroots programme line up, such as the CIMB Junior Squash Development Programme, and if you looked at our young players, such as Sivangsari and Aifa Azman, they have played at the highest level but maybe Egypt have a lot more players than us which gave them greater advantage.

"If we look at the progress made by our (female) players, I would say that we are quite proud, but for our boys, I think we still in the building process to push up their games to a better level," Huang added.

In terms of the event management and organisation, Sportspin Event & Athlete Management led by former national player Mohd Azlan Iskandar deserved credit for their tireless efforts to ensure the 32nd edition of the tournament runs smoothly.