The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

When it comes to squash, Egyptians are reigning champions with a history of snagging nearly all competitions in recent years. Most of the time, you’ll find multiple Egyptian athletes in the top 10 list of the best squash players worldwide, for both males and females, with the top spot usually filled by an Egyptian. Last weekend, our reigning status was further confirmed.

Last Thursday was the finals of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions (ToC) in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. Both male and female competitions were clinched by our very own, with Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini winning their respective titles and sealing their claim as the number 1 ranked squash players for the year.

What’s more prideworthy is that both finals were games between Egyptians. For the male competition, Farag battled it out against El Shorbagy. Farag went in as the underdog as El Shorbagy (previously world No. 1) had won four out of their previous six games. El Shorbagy started strong, but Farag managed to complete a comeback from 6-3 down to win his first ToC title.

Farag said after the game, “It’s been a dream of mine since a very young age to reach that No.1 spot. To do it in such a fashion in front of so many greats of the game, in front of the love of my life, and my parents watching at home, it couldn’t get any better really. It was very emotional. Mohamed is such a warrior; he never gives any points away. It’s been one of the biggest spectacles for the sport, and to be played in such a clean spirit is a great showcase for our sport.”

As for the female competition, world No. 1 Raneem El Welily was up against Nour El Sherbini, from whom she had just clinched the number 1 spot. El Sherbini was out to get her place back, and they both played excellently in a hard-fought match that was up for grabs until the very last.

This marks the third time that El Sherbini has become the ToC champion, making her the first ever woman to achieve such a feat. After the win, Nour said, “This is my lucky place, this tournament was my first ever platinum win, and now it’s the first one I’ve won three times. It’s really big to put my name on this trophy and to win this tournament, but to win it three times is something that I will never forget in my life.”

We’re very proud of all our Egyptian athletes but would especially like to applaud our Egyptian squash professionals on this day, and thank them for their devotion and sheer excellence in maintaining Egypt’s reputation as the best in the world.