Egypt’s Pride & Joy

September 3, 2019 Insight Editorial Team

July and August marked several victories achieved by Egyptian sports champions, some were expected, and others were not. Let’s take a look at their most highlighted achievements and see how they pleased us.

Swimming

Farida Osman

As July came to an end, various media outlets were praising Egypt’s Farida Osman for her triumph at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. She snatched the bronze of the women’s 50m butterfly final, after a 25.47 second swim.Netherland’s Ranomi Kromowidjojo finished second and gold medalist was Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem. Nicknamed “the golden fish”, Farida thanked her fans in a video message on her Facebook page: “Thank you for your messages of support. I’m very happy that I made you and Egypt proud of me.” Two years ago, Farida made us all happy with her bronze at the 2017’s competition in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, where also Sarah was crowned the champion and Ranomi finished second. Regarding her win, the golden fish previously told the International Swimming Federation (FINA): “I am very happy and didn’t expect such a great result; I thought I should swim as fast as I could and see where it would lead me. I gave no attention to other swimmers and I was only focused on my performance.” In recognition for her remarkable accomplishment, in the Czech capital, Prague, the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) awarded Farida with the 2017 Best Female Athlete from Africa.

Handball

Egyptian National Handball Team U21

In parallel with the golden fish’s bronze, the Egyptian national handball team (under-21) won another bronze at the 2019 IHF Men’s Junior World Handball Championship U21 in Spain. The Pharaohs’ squad comprised: Abdelrahman Taha, Abdelrahman Hameed, Galal Khorshid, Abdelaziz Ehab, Shehab Abdallah, Hassan Walid, Seif El Deraa, Ahmed Hesham, Ahmed Rady, Hazem Mamdouh, Mohsen Ramadan, Mohamed El Azhary, Omar Khaled, Omar Samy, Khaled Waleed and Yasser Mohamed.The third place playoff took place between the Egyptian and the Portuguese team. The match ended 37-27 in the Pharaohs’ favor. Gold and Silver medals went to France and Croatia, respectively.

Egyptian National Handball Team U19

Squash

Hania El-Hammamy

Hania El-Hammamy nailed her maiden crown after she had defeated her fellow citizen Jana Shiha in the final of the girls’ individual tournament. The match ended 3-0 (11-9/11-6/11-8). Commenting on the final, the champion said: “It was heartbreaking playing Jana because she’s a very good friend and it is just so hard to play a close friend when you want to win the title so bad. “This win is really important for me because I’ve been watching all my favorite players on the PSA Tour and they’ve all won the title at some point.”The runner-up added: “My body was a bit sore from yesterday, having played a five-setter semi-final and I probably wasn’t in the best shape.But I think I played good overall until the third game where I gave out too many unforced errors.“But I’m happy for Hania. It’s her last world juniors and I’m glad she made it while I still have one more year and hopefully I can win it next year.

Mostafa Asal

On the other side, Mostafa Asal beat his compatriot Moustafa Elsirty in the boys’ individual final by 3-0 (12-10/11-3/11-6). Since he also finished first at last year’s edition held in Chennai, India, Asal celebrated his second consecutive world junior title grinning: “It’s an amazing feeling to win for the second time although I’m happy to return this trophy after a week,“I think it always difficult coming into the junior competition being so high ranked on the PSA Tour. The pace is always different and that was something I had to adapt to this week.
“But I’m thankful that I was mentally tough today especially in the first game because taking that game was so important for me.”
Meanwhile Elsirty expressed: “I am thankful for a second place finish after finishing third last year. It shows progress in my squash and hopefully I’ll come back and win it next year.”

Egyptian National Girl’s Squash Team

Moving to the girls’ team competition, which ended on the 9th of August, the Egyptian national girl’s team sealed the Pharaoh’s ninth title. The Egyptian 2019’s squad consisted of the following players: Hania, Jana, Farida Mohamed, and Sanaa Ibrahim. Voicing her joy, Farida mentioned: “This win certainly meant a lot to me. It’s really great that I delivered the winning point because if I had lost, it would have meant more pressure for Jana. “I looked to my team and coaches and I knew they needed me to win and I badly didn’t want to lose too, since it’s my first team event.” Hania also said: “I never wanted to be the reason why the team loses so I went in there and I wanted to push hard for me teammates. “Winning the third game was big for me as it certainly gave me a lot more confidence and I’m really pleased to finish my junior career this way.” It is important to point out that the Egyptian national girl’s team had previously lifted the championship’s trophy in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019.

Volleyball

Egyptian National Volleyball Team

Also, the Egyptian national volleyball team ended 13th in the overall ranking of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship in Bahrain. The host country’s team came eighth, while Tunisia and Morocco finished 14th and 15th, respectively.