Egyptian Quartet Storms Into World Championship Main Draw

Led by 14-year-old sensation Habiba Mohamed Ahmed Alymohmed, four Egyptians stormed into the main draw of the Penang CIMB Women's World Squash Championship after successes in today's qualifying finals of the premier Women's Squash Association (WSA) event at the Nicol David International Squash Centre in Penang, Malaysia.

A day after dumping higher-ranked Malaysian No3 Delia Arnold in the second qualifying round, teenager Mohamed was in good shape as she defeated Holland's Milou van der Heijden of the Netherlands in four games.

The four-time British Junior Open champion dropped the first game against the 23-year-old Dutch national champion, ranked 51 in the world, but recovered strongly to win 10-12, 13-11, 11-8, 11-6.

And the reward for Habiba - who has been enjoying an outstanding week of squash, further demonstrating her ability on the world stage - will be a meeting in the main draw with world No6 Camille Serme of France.

"My performance today was not really up to par even though it was not as tough as facing Delia," said the Alexandria-based Habiba. "I was not really concentrating at first and that made me lose the first game but I recovered well.

"I'm really happy to win because it was my target to make the main draw and I managed to achieve that. Right now I just want to soak in the experience, and if I beat anyone else, it's a huge bonus for me," added Habiba.

Three more Egyptians - all young and talented players, Nour El Tayeb, Heba El Torky and Salma Hany Ibrahim - also came through their final qualifying matches.

17-year-old Salma took 43 minutes to end the hopes of Japanese No1 Misaki Kobayashi, who was fiercely backed by the home crowd, winning 11-8, 11-9, 11-9.

Second qualifying seed El Tayeb also didn't sweat too much in beating Australia's Lisa Camilleri 12-10, 11-6, 11-5 - although El Torky had to slog before overcoming Welsh opponent Deon Saffery 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 15-13 in 61 minutes.

Another significant result saw New Zealand's 21-year-old Megan Craig end the challenge of South Korea's Eun Chan Ahn in five games.

Craig who is set to follow in the footsteps of compatriot and world No5 Joelle King won 11-8, 6-11, 12-14, 11-3, 11-7, and will go on to meet ninth seed Jenny Duncalf of England in the first round of the main draw.

"It was tiring after beating Emily (Whitlock) yesterday and I felt it in my legs," said Ahn, bidding to become the first Korean to make the event's main draw. "Despite leading 2/1, my legs were unable to push on and it's sad because I would have wanted to be in the main draw too."

The others who also made it through to the main draw are Canada's Samantha Cornett, Wales number one Tesni Evans and England's Lisa Aitken.

Meanwhile the home crowd will finally get to see world No1 and defending champion Nicol David in action.

The seven-time world champion will take to the glass court at 9.30pm after the opening ceremony at the SPICE Arena. She will face England's Emma Beddoes.

Low Wee Wern, the world No7 and another Penang favourite, will be in action on Wednesday, against Australia's Donna Urquhart.

Updated 1st round draw:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) v Emma Beddoes (ENG)
[11] Annie Au (HKG) v [Q] Heba El Torky (EGY)
[8] Camille Serme (FRA) v [Q] Habiba Mohamed Ahmed Alymohmed (EGY)
[14] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v Nicolette Fernandes (GUY)
[4] Alison Waters (ENG) v Joshana Chinappa (IND)
[12] Kasey Brown (AUS) v Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
[5] Joelle King (NZL) v [Q] Tesni Evans (WAL)
[13] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v [Q] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
[15] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v Joey Chan (HKG)
[7] Madeline Perry (IRL) v Sarah Kippax (ENG)
[10] Dipika Pallikal (IND) v [Q] Lisa Aitken (ENG)
[3] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [Q] Salma Hany Ibrahim (EGY)
[16] Line Hansen (DEN) v [Q] Samantha Cornett (CAN)
[6] Low Wee Wern (MAS) v Donna Urquhart (AUS)
[9] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v [Q] Megan Craig (NZL)
[2] Laura Massaro (ENG) v [WC] Vanessa Raj (MAS)