Men’s World Junior Squash Championship 2010: The Indestructible Egyptian Amr-Khaled Khalifa
The Men’s World Junior Squash tournament that kicked off on the 27th of July, 2010 brought together junior squash players from 25 different countries including the United States of America, Pakistan, India and England. However, it was the Egyptians that dominated throughout apart from stealing the glory in Quito, Ecuador.
The diverse players struggled in the first two rounds. In spite of the Egyptian tyranny, sportsmen from India, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan and the United States made it to the third and fourth round on the 29th of July 2010. With various other players that managed to make it to the quarterfinals, it came as no surprise that the boys from Egypt stood out. Egypt’s Amr-Khaled Khalifa opposed fellow-countryman Marwan El-Shorbagy in the semi-finals. El-s****. was made to face defeat by losing 11-6, 11-1 and 11-4 even though he came up 13-11 in the third game and 11-9 in the fourth. In the process, Ali Farag, also hailing from Egypt beat Pakistan’s Farhan Zaman 11-2, 11-4 and 11-8 in three games in a row. Clearly, the fact that Farhan improved his score by each game hardly made a difference.
17-year-old Amr-Khaled Khalifa was born and bred in Cairo, Egypt. It was not until April, 2008 that Khalifa went professional. With his Tecnifibre racquet, the athlete represents the Gezira Club and the Egyptian Junior National team. Khalifa participated in the Palestra IN Forma PSA OPEN 2009 and made it to the final. He was confronted by Australian player Steve Finitsis. Khalifa defeated Finitsis with a comprehensive 3 games to 2. Year 2009 was not as eventful for the player as the year 2010 proved to be. Khalifa played the Open Du Gard 2010 final where He was up against the Frenchman, Fabien Versaille who he thrashed 11-7, 11-3 and 11-6 after making an amazing comeback in the last three games. The sportsman went on to play the Professional Squash Association Indian Challenger No .6 final in January, 2010. Kuwait’s Abdullah Almezayen encountered defeat at the hands of Amr-Khaled Khalifa as he lost 2 games to 3.
On the other hand, Ali Farag hails from the same country and city as companion Amr-Khaled Khalifa. The 18-year-old plays for the Heliopolis Club along with the Egyptian Squash team. Farag is ranked as the number one player in the Europe Boys Under-19 rankings. He also represented Egypt in the B-U19 British Junior Open. Moreover, Ali is currently ranked at No. 3 in national rankings. However, he has yet to win a title exclusive of the Dutch and Pioneer Europe BU-19.
Egypt’s No. 1 seed, Amr-Khaled Khalifa and No. 2 seed Ali Farag were set to meet in the all-glass court at the El-Condado shopping mall in Quito, Ecuador. The all Egyptian Men’s World Junior Squash Championship started off on the 1st of August 2010. After leaving all the other players from 25 different countries far behind in the tournament, the Egyptians came face-to-face in a gruelling and exciting match. The game that lasted an hour took off with Ali Farag posing a threat to No. 1 seed and fellow countryman Khalifa by attaining a two point win. Farag beat Khalifa 11-8 in the first game. Khalifa however, kept his cool and turned the tables on Farag by bagging the game based upon a one point margin. In spite of keeping up with the no. 1 national seed, Farag lost the second game with a close 11-9 margin. The constant battle between the Egyptians prolonged their third game. As the No. 2 National seed, Farag was giving Khalifa a tough time. Khalifa nevertheless came out victorious and won the third game 12-10. In order to go into the fifth game, Farag tried his level best to sustain himself and win the fourth set. But it was not to be. Farag’s dreams were crushed as Khalifa won the fourth game with an easy score of 11-7. This was the first loss of the tournament for Ali Farag. Khalifa not only took the title but also held on to it for the sixth year in a row for Egypt. It was nonetheless, a matter of honour and prestige for the Egyptians to have had their top two seeds play the Men’s World Junior Squash Championship 2010 final.
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