Triumphant Trio Back In Action In Egypt

Within days of Egypt winning the Women's World Team Championship title for the first time in front of an ecstatic home crowd in Cairo, three members of the triumphant squad were back in action in the first round of the inaugural Women's Sharm El Sheikh Open, a $26,200 WISPA World Tour Silver event in South Sinai, Egypt.

Omneya Abdel Kawy, the world No7 who led Egypt to their historic success, beat Canadian qualifier Tara Mullins 11-5, 11-3, 11-4. The third seed will now face England's sixth seed Lauren Briggs.

Team number three Raneem El Weleily earned the quickest victory of the day. The 19-year-old No7 seed despatched Dutch opponent Orla Noom 11-8, 11-5, 11-1 in just 20 minutes - and will now take on the England number one Jenny Duncalf.

The second seed, who recovered from a game down to beat Australian Amelia Pittock in four game, will be eager to make up for England's shock world team championship final defeat in Cairo by beating her Egyptian opponent in a bid to reach the Sharm El Sheikh semis.

New Zealand's Shelley Kitchen made sure the results did not all go the Egypt team's way: The fourth seed from Auckland beat the squad's fourth string Heba El Torky 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 in 30 minutes.

1st round:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt Joelle King (NZL) 9-11, 15-13, 11-5, 11-2 (46m)
[5] Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) bt [Q] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) 11-3, 11-7, 11-3 (35m)
[3] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [Q] Tara Mullins (CAN) 11-5, 11-3, 11-4 (35m)
[6] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt [Q] Sara El Noamany (EGY) 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 (42m)
[8] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) bt Louise Crome (NZL) 11-5, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 13-11 (73m)
[4] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) bt [Q] Heba El Torky (EGY) 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 (30m)
[7] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) bt Orla Noom (NED) 11-8, 11-5, 11-1 (20m)
[2] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt Amelia Pittock (AUS) 6-11, 11-2, 11-9, 11-7 (30m)