THE PHARAOHS SUCCESSFULLY DEFEND THEIR ALL AFRICA SENIOR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS.

EGYPT CROWNED THE 2023 AFRICAN CHAMPIONS

After a similar achievement in 2021, Egypt did not falter in its quest to retain the title it won in Uganda, starting its campaign against Cameroon with a 5 – 0 win to set up an encounter with Zambia replicating a similar scoreline in the Group C matches.

“We had the best of starts, especially since the draw was in our favor.

I had very high expectations for team Egypt in All Africa 2023. We were the winners of the 2021 edition, and we had no doubt of our capability to retain our title with such a committed and devoted team”, stated the Team Manager of the Team, Menna Tarek El Tanany.

Egypt emerged as the overall Group C winner to set a quarter-finals berth with the 2021 bronze medalists Uganda.

Hungry to also win the championships, Uganda took the first match with the partnership of their talisman player Brian Kasirye and Fadilah Shamika in two straight games off 21-14, 21-16.

In the ladies’ singles, Nour Ahmed Youssri cruised past Husina Kobugabe to level the score for the Egyptians for a 21-15 and 21-16 final score.

With the score level, Ugandans depended on Brian Masanyaraze to give them the much-needed win but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to “dance”. The more experienced Salah managed to stop his fluid movement on the court, leaving him with no answers in his 8-21 21-19 21-19 defeat.

“I could not believe that I made it,” said Salah, overjoyed at giving his team a chance to qualify for the semis.

Encouraged by this performance, Egypt’s Women’s Doubles pair Nour Youssri and Doha Hany -smashed their game into two sets for a 21 -15 21 -19 win to qualify for the semi-final clash with hosts South Africa.

Just as they started in the quarters, Egypt got off to a loss in the Mixed doubles encounter between Jarred Elliot and Amy Ackerman, losing 21 -10 21-15. It took nerves of steel from the enterprising Adham Hatem in the Men Singles Match against the young Robert White, who is having the best streak in the Championship, in their closely fought first game as Adham narrowly won 21-19. The second game was not easy for Adham Robert White as he suprised the Egyptian with a comeback by taking the game 21-19. Adham had to dig deeper in his reserve and pull a rabbit out of his hat to take the third game 21-19.

Buoyed by Adham’s performance, Nour pulled one of the biggest upsets of the tournament beating the reigning African Champion Johanita Scholtz in two straight games of 21-17 21-19

” This is a dream come true moment for me, finally being able to beat the African Champion. I had prepared well for this tournament, and I thank God, my federation, and the BCA for their support,” said Nour

South Africa put up a spirited fight in the third match, but the Men Doubles pair of Cameron Coetzer and Robert Summers was no match to the combination of Adham Hatem and Ahmed Salah, losing 18 21, 21 1 to give Egypt a place in the finals against Mauritius. Mauritius defeated the fancied Algeria 3-2 to deny the Algerians a Nothern Africa derby against Egypt.

The Islanders looking to bring the trophy to the Indian Ocean, were on the track to winning the title when Kobita Dookhee and Jean-Bernard, aka man from space Bongout, nailed the first game in two straight games of 21-14 21-17. The three-time African Champion Julien Paul also secured another point for Mauritius with a score of 21-11 21-17. Unfortunately, the three remaining matches didn’t go as expected for the Dodos. Kate Ludik coming back after a long break, found it hard to overcome the dynamic Nour and went down in two straight games. Mauritius now pegged their hopes to extend their lead on their doubles duo of Olympian and BWF Education Program Ambassador, Julien Paul and Jean-Bernard Bongout but lost their confidence with the loss of the second game and eventually lost 21-17, 20-22, and 18-21. The Islanders kept fighting in the last match as the Women’s Doubles was decisive. The experienced current Champion of the African Championship in Doubles, Kobita Dookhee and the several-time Single African Champion came close to winning but could not manage to fend off the Egyptian onslaught as Doha Hany, and Nour Ahmed Youssri were on fire to retain the title, despatching the Dodos 3-2.