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Mohamed El Shorbagy in
Bogota
"I want to be remembered for something
that nobody has done so far ..."
By Juan Carlos Santacruz
With the support of Esteban Casarino interpretation and translation
of Mariana De Reyes |
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With the impudence of the most intimate conviction, the Egyptian
Mohamed El Shorbagy sustained his goal of making history in
squash and this means being remembered for something nobody has done
so far.
This goal at his 20s may seem pretentious; if it wasn’t that in
spite of his youth he is in the top ten players of the PSA,
considered one of the best 10 players of the past year and is one of
the two best youngest players of the planet.
Mohamed was born on February 12th, 1991 in the city of Alexandria in
Egypt; North of Africa, where squash is considered a national sport.
His father is a civil engineer and her mother is dedicated to their
home, where she nurtured two champions, Mohamed and Marwan.
Marwan is 17 and is also a squash player that along Mohamed has
started to write an inedited history of squash in the world. Both
brothers have become junior world champions. |
Success for
Shorbagy
Mohamed is the second player in the world, alongside his compatriot
Ramy Ashour, PSA No. 2, to conquer two world junior
championships in the Under 19 category.
The inspirer of these triumphs was Ramy. El Shorbagy sustains that
in 2006, Ramy conquered the title of Junior Champion in New Zealand
for the second time, and he had the fortune of being there and
watched him fulfil his dreams. “I want to win that trophy as well”
he said.
Two years later, this dream came true in Switzerland. “To
conquer something, you have to see them every day as possible” he
thought, and in 2008, when he was 16 he defeated the Pakistani Amir
Atlas Khan. It was an immense challenge. By that time, El Shorbagy
was PSA No. 65 and Khan was PSA No. 21. Despite the favoritism of
the Pakistani, he started losing the first game of the final and won
3-1. A year later, in India he defended his title against the
Malaysian player Ivan Yuen but this time with a solid 3-0. These
historic triumphs are his biggest joy as a player.
At age 15 he made his debut as a professional in the PSA in 2007 and
climbed rapidly winning up to 3 professional titles; the most
important the Indian Challenger, being the youngest player to
achieve the title in a 5 stars tournament. He stood out with his
title in the Motor City Open in Detroit, when he defeated his
idol David Palmer in the semi final and obtained the 4th place in
the World Open when he was only 17.
There was always someone to imitate in Egypt.
Egypt is considered a mandatory standard in world squash. It has 4
top ten players in the world; their players have won the last 6
versions of the World Junior Championships. In this orbital
tournament for juniors, that begun in 1990 and has held 18 versions,
Egypt has won 50% of the titles with 9 champions and 4 of them, by
the hands of Ashour and El Shorbagy.
When asked why Egypt is a world squash power, he sustained with
great clarity that it was because there is always someone to
imitate.
This is of course since Ahmed Barada, first junior champion and PSA
No. 1 alongside Ahmed Faizy and Karim Darwish. Nowadays the names
are numerous, starting from Ashour, the two El Shorbagys, the other
Ashour, Hisham, Wael El Indi and Omar Mossad beside others.
Finally the best of all times the historic icon, Amr Shabana.
Shabana is the best player in Egyptian squash history. Today, he is
32 years old and is PSA No. 5. He managed to endure 33 months in the
PSA No. 1 and has been the only player in history, with Jahangir
Khan and Geoff Hunt to conquer 4 World Open titles.
El Shorbagy remarks that Shabana has been his greatest idol, the
player to imitate, the footprints he hopes to follow as well as the
ex PSA No. 1, the Canadian Jonathan Power.
The path to achieve what others have achieved, to follow their
tracks and continue the path is, according to El Shorbagy, the
secret that has made Egypt the first power in world squash today. |
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Inspiration
came from home
Mohamed comments that his parents and younger brother Marwan have
been vital in his career. His parents have supported him,
surrounding him with affection and always respecting his decisions,
moments and space.
He remembers, full of emotion, that in the Junior Championships in
Switzerland in 2008 he had to experience a tough moment, facing
great pressure being only 16 searching for his first title.
He confesses that he decided to call his parents for their support,
and they flew in from Dubai, arrived after 9 hours of flight to
encourage him to win. He gets emotional with the memory of one of
the most significant and unconditional expressions of support from
his parents.
With his brother Marwan he has a fraternal relationship, very
emotive and highly motivational. He sustains that one of the biggest
joy squash has given him, was watching his brother become World
Junior Champion a month ago in Herentals, Belgium. His brother is
only 17 and both have written history, becoming the first pair of
brothers to conquer the title of Junior World Champions.
However, the hunger of the spirit of a champion is so enormous that
he affirms with no doubt that next year Marwan can become Junior
World Champion for a second time. “He would bring home four world
titles”. A feat difficult to repeat.
They train and talk, or better, they reflect about squash. He says
that both have many common points as players, but they think very
differently in their game.
When we asked him about the possibility of them meeting on court, he
says he will have to win, because that is his mentality but he
surely affirmed that the only player he aspires to see higher than
himself is his brother Marwan.
If they ever meet on court, between laughs, he says it would be like
a match between Venus and Serena Williams. |
The knowledge
to strengthen mentally
Mohamed started playing squash at age 8. His uncle was an amateur
player and took him to the place where he played with friends. He
saw the game, got excited and started to play. He learned by the
hand of the squash bible, Gamal Awad, who was Egypt’s
national champion in 1976 and was known for training rising stars.
Awad is also known for playing the longest game in the history of
squash in a match against the Pakistani Jahangir Khan. He was losing
1-8, when the score was up to 9, he requested for one additional
point and won 10-9.
That mentality of Awad to overcome difficulties was clearly
inherited to Mohamed. He was his coach since the age of 8 until he
was 12. With only 49, in 2004 Gamal Awad passed away and the sports
career of Mohamed entered a terrible emotional batch. It was a
strong loss for him, and before his decease he talked to him for 30
minutes and gave him some final advices.
But it’s precisely in the critical moments where opportunities are
found. From the hand of Awad he passed to the English Jonah
Barrington, who today is 70 years old. A squash scholar, who as
a player won 6 British Opens between 1967 and 1973, in that time,
the British Open was considered the World Open. His writings, books,
methodology, didactical approach and teaching pedagogy are the
source of wisdom in world squash, maybe the school with the highest
academy.
In England, the El Shorbagys found the source of inspiration to
continue their training plans, because both players left home.
Mohamed channelled his sadness of losing his Egyptian coach with
Jonah as well as the temporary disagreements of the squash he was
taught 5 years ago. Therefore, he packed his bags and left to
Millfield to become part of the Barrington Squash Academy, joining
Jonah who became a high level coach for juniors after being one of
the best players in history.
With the historic know how of forming the best junior players for
the past three decades, Mohamed received his two World titles with
the help of Jonah.
El Shorbagy’s greatest virtue on court is his mental strength. That
is what he does differently. “I enter the court and I forget who he
is, where he comes from, I always want to win. I don’t care about
making a nice match, I care about winning,” he affirms
categorically.
This mental strength was first pushed by Awad in Egypt and was
polished by coach Barrington, who generated the true tactic so
junior players could focus their minds during key moments, change
their attitude when necessary and always have a winning attitude.
“Firmly believing that you can win, is already starting to win,” he
says with the freshness that flourishes in his interior and finishes
with a smile that lights his face, showing his youth. |
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Playing with
seniors
In the Teams World Championships in Paderborn, Germany in the
month of August of the present year he made his debut on the
Egyptian team. It was his first call and he had the enormous
responsibility of passing his team to the final. Egypt had already
been champion last year and in spite of the absence of their star
Amr Shabana, reaching the final was a challenge. Given that in
sports nothing is written, France tied the series to one all.
Ramy Ashour defeated Gregory Gaultier by 3-0 but Karim Darwish lost
to Thierry Lincou, 3-2. Therefore it was on El Shorbagy’s hand to
define the match and pass to the final. The match was against
Mathieu Castagnet. He was losing 2-1 and in the fourth game he was
7-4. “I felt I had 10 kilograms on my shoulders,” he said and
sustained that with such responsibility he felt heavy while thinking
and moving.
Yet he focused and accepted he had the responsibility of winning and
so he did, he played his best shots, he risked impressively and tied
the match to two all. In the final game, he gave his teammates the
dreamed pass to the final against England.
Another world title at his 20s: World Open Teams Champion.
We're ending the conversation that becomes pleasant and friendly,
but it is time to ask why he agreed to come to Colombia and
experience the challenge. "When I arrived, I did not understand why
players complained, the ball bounces just a little more" he says.
But on the second day he did not feel air entering his lungs, then
called his brother and told him it was terrible and said that he
would probably come home earlier. However the next day in his first
game in the Main Draw he felt the air re-enter his lungs and won
categorically.
"Now I know it's hard, but it is an outstanding challenge for an
athlete, because you have to learn to win in all environments, in
all courts and against all players if you want to be the best" he
says with an amazing ease for a young man. |
And finally
...
Then
he looks at us with his traditional smile waiting for the end of the
interview and once again he concentrates in the same way he does in
his routine when he receives the ball from his opponent, stretches
the racket in front of his body looks between his wrist and racket
grip, and looks back at his opponent to follow the path of the ball.
Pure concentration, pure conviction, pure champion fiber.
We
said goodbye knowing that we had had a good time with the
protagonist of a story in process that will continue to generate
many pages in order to reach his desire of not accepting being the
best, but rather to conquer something that nobody has managed before
in squash history.
Surely we will have front row seats to enjoy his triumphs and think
that in order to be a winner, you have to feel a winner; El Shorbagy
feels a winner.
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