The Egyptian squash player, formerly ranked number one in the world, Mohamed El-Shorbagy, was not the first Egyptian athlete to decide to represent other countries, and to raise a flag other than the one they were accustomed to when winning titles, but his decision raised several questions about the motives for such transformations.
The decision of Al-Shorbagy, 31, to represent England, for the remainder of his sports career, caused a shock, especially as he was the first to do so in the history of this game in which Egypt is distinguished, and his decision became news circulated by the international media, while the English Squash Federation expressed its confidence On the player’s ability to “inspire and encourage current and future generations of English talent”.
El Shorbagy will participate for the first time under the England flag in the Mauritius Open between June 7-11, which is one of the rounds of the PSA World Championship, followed by participating in the British Squash Championship in Manchester between June 14-18.
“other players”
The former Egyptian international squash player, Ahmed Barada, expressed his fear of repeating the naturalization scenario with other players in the national squash team.
said in TV statementsHe said: “My fear is that the younger generations will repeat what Al-Shorbagy did, and I know that there is a conversation currently taking place with other players, from other countries,” noting that he spoke with Al-Shorbagy after his decision, and he also spoke with many current players to find out the existing problems.
Barrada expressed his shock at “the first Egyptian squash player to do this, and I am not with what El-Shorbagy did, but when I spoke to him, I felt that he was oppressed and the extent of the wound that he felt, and he should have been embraced,” describing it as a “difficult call.”
He added that the player complained about the lack of sponsors for him, and that he appealed to the Federation about his requirements four years ago, but there is no point or support, noting that he felt in his contact with him “that there is a big mistake happening”, and that “there are things that he cannot talk about on the air.” .
But the head of the Egyptian Squash Federation, Assem Khalifa, responded to Barada, saying: “We as a federation do not interfere in the sponsorship. From winning trophies, from our side we were paying him tickets when he represented us, and we were paying him the annual subscription to the PSA.”
Khalifa asked: “How do I embrace him, while he lives in England and his life there, and this is his personal decision.”
But Barada revealed that he also holds British citizenship, and lived in England for 15 years, but decided to represent Egypt until the end of his sports career.
The Egyptian Squash Federation played down the importance of El-Shorbagy’s decision, noting that “Egypt has many talented players, as evidenced by the presence of 6 Egyptian players among the top 10 in the world in the international classification, all of whom are professionals, and each professional player has his personal convictions, as his income depends on his financial prizes.” .
But the sports expert, Yasser Ayoub, in his interview with Al-Hurra website, believes that “the problem is that we have lost players in other games in which we do not have alternatives, although this is not justified, and it is difficult to lose any player in the first place.”
For example, “We lost players in handball, wrestling, and weightlifting who won medals in the name of other countries that we needed so badly.”
In his interview with Al-Hurra, the sports journalist, Mohamed Qalba, lists many of the names of the Egyptian athletes who decided to play under the name of other countries.
Qalbeh said that among these players, Faris Hassouna, the weightlifting champion, who participated in the name of Qatar and won a gold medal in the last Tokyo Olympics, and the equestrian duo Sameh Al-Dahan and Abdel Qader Saeed, who are ranked in the world, who decided to play on behalf of the United Kingdom and Belgium, respectively, and Tariq Abdel Salam, the wrestling champion, who played for Bulgaria, as well as Muhammed Fawzy, the wrestling champion, who played for the United States.
He also referred to 3 Egyptian players who joined the Qatari handball team, the duo “Awad” Bilal and Hazem, in addition to Mahmoud Zaki.
Why does this happen?
He attributed Ayoub, to some Egyptian players resorting to financial temptations and administrative and technical problems between players and federations.
He said: “There are several reasons for some players seeking to obtain another nationality and playing under its flag. He wants to live outside Egypt.
He added, “For example, in weightlifting, wrestling, or handball, most of those who converted to other nationalities did so because of strong financial offers from other Arab countries such as Qatar.”
As for equestrianism, “some people who had problems with the Egyptian Equestrian Federation, and personal compliments to some players before the Tokyo Olympics, resorted to this path, so they had to play on behalf of other countries of their nationality,” according to Ayoub.
Abdelkader Saeed, ranked 40th in the world, in equestrianism, chose to represent Belgium instead of Egypt.
And in 2021, Sameh El-Dahan, a player for the Egyptian equestrian team, announced that he would represent the English Federation under the British flag instead of Al-Masry, after he was excluded from representing Egypt in the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
‘Lots of difficulties’
But Qalbeh believes that the most important factors that push the Egyptian player to think about “naturalization” or rather participate in international tournaments under the flag of another country in his sport in which he excels, is the “lack of interest”, explaining that “the Egyptian player does not receive any attention, whether moral or material in his country.
Qalbeh believes that the player in Egypt faces many difficulties in order to reach his dream, starting with the training capabilities that help him reach a distinguished level in the game he plays, whether it is individual or collective, passing through the general atmosphere provided by the Game Association for him to focus in His training, the end of the financial return or the reward that he will receive in the event of winning a medal or winning a championship title.
One of the tweeters saw that the story of Al-Shorbagy, “very similar to the story of the wrestler, Tariq Abdel Salam, who was playing in the name of Egypt when he was injured, and as a result of neglect and lack of treatment, he retired from the game and traveled to Bulgaria, and worked in a shawarma restaurant, and when the Bulgarians learned that he was an Olympic champion, they treated him and obtained a He won the gold medal for Bulgaria in the 2017 European Championships.
The story of “Mohamed El-Shorbagy” a squash player is very similar to the story of the wrestler “Tariq Abdel Salam” who was playing in the name of Egypt and was injured as a result of neglect and lack of treatment. ???? pic.twitter.com/ddQZAhIIxN
– C / Citizen ???? (@eslamabdo198600) June 6, 2022
Abdeslam won the most expensive medal, after defeating the Russian champion Chingiz Labazanov, 4-1 in the under-75kg final, while raising the Bulgarian flag at the time.
Abdel Salam had participated in many tournaments with the Egyptian national team and won many medals, including: the gold of the African Games held in Congo Brazzaville, the silver medal in the Bulgarian International Championship “Nikola Petrov and Dankloof”, the bronze in the Mediterranean Games in Turkey, and the bronze in the World Youth Championship in Sofia. Bulgarian, according to the “Yalla Kora” website.
In the case of Al-Shorbagy, the player revealed that he was feeling “extremely upset” when he arrived at Cairo Airport and saw the pictures of his fellow Egyptian squash players as a way to celebrate them, “But I am the only one not in these pictures, even though I won 44 championships, and the most Egyptian player He wins professional championships, and for fifty months I was ranked number one in the world, which means that I am the most Egyptian in history to have risen to the throne of squash.”
But Ayoub says, “Shorbagy, for example, was awarded the highest honor in the country. I don’t think there is more interest than that.”
lack of appreciation
While Qalbeh sees that after the player has overcome all the difficulties he faces in the preparation stage, and endures many situations in order to achieve his dream, another dilemma comes, as he collides with a lack of financial appreciation that is not in line with the value of the achievement he achieved, or even the effort he made.
And he explains that “the player knows in his heart that if he overcomes difficulties, challenges circumstances and reaches his dream, then all of that will pass, and no one will remember him after a month at most, and the situation will return as it is, while what happens is the officials’ interest in their heroes and care Sports federations with their players, we will see at least a champion annually in every game.”
Ayoub agrees with him, who says: Nour El-Sherbiny was chosen as the greatest squash player in the history of the game last year, and she recently won the world championship for the third time. Only with Al-Ahly, Zamalek and football news.
Ayoub highlights another example, a wrestling player, called Samar Hamza, “A problem occurred with her coach that developed into a big quarrel in the Olympic Center in Maadi during the preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, so that she reached the police department, records and signed fines from the Olympic Committee later, this story dominated. On the sports media for a very long time.
In Tokyo, Samar did not achieve any medal, “she fell into depression and announced her retirement, then her coach began to contain her, treat her psychologically, and bring her back to the game.”
Samar traveled last year to participate in the World Wrestling Championship in Norway and won the third place and won the bronze medal.”
But the sports media did not care at the time about the news of her victory, according to Ayoub, as he published a two-line story in some newspapers only and did not mention this heroine again, although she achieved the first women’s medal in the World Wrestling Championship for Egypt, while the details of the quarrel remained in the media for about Two or three months.
financial crisis
Al-Shorbagy had confirmed that his decision had nothing to do with financial matters, but he said that he needed a doctor and a coach in the tournaments he is playing.
For his part, Ayoub said that “the squash game in particular, we have many champions in it, and the provision of a doctor with special capabilities for each player, is something that exceeds the budget of the Egyptian Squash Federation,” noting that it is a very weak budget.
Khalifa revealed that the union’s budget for the year amounts to only five million pounds (about 270 thousand dollars).
Ayoub said: “We have some federations that are not good at dealing with their players. A large part of the crisis is caused by our federations, as sometimes a distinguished player is not taken care of for the sake of equality between players.”
As for the financial temptation and offers offered to some players in order to play on behalf of other countries, he said, “This is difficult to stand up to because Egypt cannot provide it or provide an alternative to it.”
He blamed his heart for the efforts of some players to play on behalf of other countries, to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the sports federations.
The Minister of Youth and Sports did not respond to Al-Hurra’s questions.