Local Teens Triumph on Day One of CIB Egyptian Open

Local teenage qualifiers Barb Sameh and Mohamad Zakaria stole the show on the opening day of the CIB Egyptian Open as the first ever diamond-level PSA Squash Tour event got underway at O West in Cairo.

The Egyptian pair each had to come through a gruelling three matches of qualifying to reach the first round, and they made sure they didn't let the golden opportunity go to waste as they wowed with wins over Hong Kong's Tomato Ho and England's Nick Wall, respectively.

17-year-old Sameh, ranked 168th in the world, was in fine form today, backed loudly by the home crowd as she confidently took the game to world No. 23 Ho.

After clinching the opener 13-11, Sameh was pegged back 11-1 in the second. The Egyptian responded fantastically, though, taking a tight third game 15-13 and then sealing the win with an 11-9 victory in the fourth game to set up a second round clash with reigning world champion Nouran Gohar.

"I'm over the moon right now, I came here, didn't expect anything, just to enjoy the experience and try to challenge the top players," Sameh said.

16-year-old Zakaria, meanwhile, followed up his WSF World Junior Championship title this summer with a hugely impressive win over world No.35 Wall, with the world No.62 wrapping up a 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 win in 40 minutes to make a statement of his professional ambitions.

"Today, out of all days I feel good because, as I said before I started: As the days go, as the tournament goes on, I play better. Today was maybe one of my best performances. I think I played better than I played at the World Juniors. I was I was fierce, I was aggressive, I was very active on court. I sent a message from the beginning," Zakaria said.