AMR SHABANA EYES FOURTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CROWN AND
SPEAKS EXCLUSIVELY TO THE HI-TEC WORLD SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIPS –
MANCHESTER 2008
Current World Squash Champion Amr Shabana joined the
annals of squash greats last year when he won his third World Open
title, a feat which put him in a select and illustrious group of
players alongside the legendary names of Geoff Hunter, Jahangir
Khan and Jansher Khan.
Not content with three World Titles on his
mantelpiece Shabana is eyeing a fourth crown in Manchester this
October and will go into the squash spectacular as one of the red
hot favourites having recently extended his stay at the top of the
world rankings to an incredible 28 consecutive months.
Despite having a relatively poor record in
Britain by his own high standards, the Cairo born player is a huge
fan of playing in front of the English crowds and is relishing the
opportunity to get to Manchester to defend his coveted title.
The Hi-Tec World Squash Championships –
Manchester 2008 caught up with Shabana recently and got his
thoughts on playing in England, his inspirations and life away from
the court.
Q&A with three time World Squash Champion and
World Number One, Amr Shabana
Do you enjoy playing in tournaments in
England? Yes, I have been playing in England for a few
years now and I always feel that I play well here. I have noticed
each time that the crowd seem very knowledgeable and enthusiastic
about the sport. The crowd have always been very supportive, even
when I have been playing against English opposition.
Who was your hero when growing
up? Whilst there was no one in particular, outside of
the squash world I watched a lot of football and tennis and loved
watching all the top players of those sports from the past decade
or so.
Egypt has lots of good youngsters
coming through at the moment, did you benefit from a good youth
coaching structure? Yes, I had very good coaches
but never really stuck to just one. I have trained under 20 to 30
coaches as early in my career my father had control of my training.
Consistency wasn’t really a problem and it gave me the opportunity
to learn different things from the strengths of each coaching
style.
Which of the other players do you see as being your main
opposition for the Championships? I have a lot of
opposition in each tournament I play in; the world’s top 24 are now
very strong. In the game of squash the level has really increased
in recent times, there are lots of good players and a lot of the
matches are very hard to predict.
How do you view your compatriot, Ramy
Ashour’s meteoric start to his career? He is a few
years younger than me so we never played together when I was
younger. I have known about Ramy since he was about 10 years old so
have been able to watch him climb as high as world number 2. He has
done very well in such a short space of time.
As World Number One do you feel you
have achieved everything you set out to or do you have further
goals within the sport? I have been the top player in
the world for over 2 years now and would like to maintain that in
the future. I still have goals within the sport and really want to
win more World Opens during my career.
You are 29 years old, how long do you
see yourself playing at the highest level for? It
would be nice to play as long as I can to the best of my ability. I
am not really thinking about making any changes yet, I am
concentrating on the upcoming competitions.
Do you have a preferred stadium or arena or is there one
which you would like to play at? I enjoy playing in a
lot of the stadiums, each for different reasons. I like to play in
Hong Kong because that is where I won 3 titles and a world open but
I’m also looking forward to Manchester and playing to the very best
of my ability next time I am there.
When you are not on a squash court,
what do you like to do with your time? I like to spend
some time with my wife, going for lunches and having a bit of time
off. I don’t get as much free time as I’d like with my training
schedule so it is nice to relax when I can. In the summer it is
always nice to go down to the beach when it’s sunny.
Where did you go for your last
holiday? I have a beach house in Alexandria in the
North-West of Egypt. When I get some time off we go up there to
hang out for a bit. It is a holiday town so there are plenty of
places to go and lots of things to do.
I would love to go somewhere like
Thailand or Bali. I could name a lot of places I would like to
visit, generally anywhere with sun and white sand beaches. It’s
also a bonus if there’s no squash court! Then I can forget about
having to train and play squash for a bit.
If you weren’t a professional squash player what would
you have liked to become? And if you didn’t have squash as your
preferred sport, which sport would you choose to play?
I think if I had to choose another sport to play instead of
squash I would go for golf. I really enjoy the game but don’t get
to play as much as I would like to.Other than that, I used
to play for my local football team. Unfortunately I had to stop
when I started training a lot for squash. I could never make the
sessions so it was hard to continue with the team.
Do you follow any of the professional
sports teams around the world? Liverpoolare
my favourite Premiership team but I like to watch the best players
from all around the world.
If you could play a sport with anyone
in the world who would it be with and why?I might go
for a football ‘all stars’ match against the world’s greats in all
different sports. I am a fan of Zinedine Zidane, Kaka, Steven
Gerrard - a lot of the greatest footballers. Maybe I’d also play
with the top badminton, squash and tennis players. Basically the
top players from each sport in each country.
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INTERVIEW ENDS –
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The arrival of The Hi-Tec World Squash
Championships – Manchester 2008 will be the first time in the
history of the sport that the men’s and women’s World Opens will be
contested concurrently in a British city and will be staged from
Saturday 11th to Sunday 19th October.
Tickets and VIP hospitality packages are
selling quickly for The Hi-Tec World Squash Championships so to
avoid disappointment purchase your tickets for the official website
- http://www.worldsquash2008.com/
which also has full details on the event.
For further information about the
Hi-Tec World Squash Championships – Manchester 2008 or high
resolution photography please contact the Event Press Office at
Capitalize:
Leigh Ireland
Telephone: 020 7940 1705 / 020 7940
1700
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And
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E-mail:
pressoffice@worldsquash2008.com