Farida Mohamed: First World Championship Was “Unforgettable”

At just 17 years of age, Egypt’s Farida Mohamed featured in her first Women’s World Championship, and did so on home soil as the tournament ended with the Pyramids of Giza as an epic backdrop.

Although Mohamed lost out in the first round of the championships to Canadian No.1 Hollie Naughton, the young Egyptian said that the experience of the tournament is one she will never forget.

“I mean, it’s unforgettable that the first world championship for me was in my country, and not only that, but in the best location in Egypt!” she said.

She got into the biggest tournament in squash thanks to reaching the top 50 in the World Rankings prior to her 18th birthday, and she now sits at a career-high of World No.40, which “feels amazing”.

“Well, I mean it feels amazing and it gave me confidence that I can do better! I think all of us as players wish to be the World No.1 and for me that’s the dream that I’ll keep working hard for by taking it step by step.” Mohamed explained.

The young Egyptian admits that she was not on her best form at the start of the season, which included defeats at the Delhi Leg of the HCL SRFI Indian Tour and the Open de France – Nantes presented by Tailor Capital.

However, she fought back and reached the final of the JC Women’s Open, the semi-finals of the Serena Huawei Pakistan International Squash Tournament in Pakistan.

Mohamed then reached the quarter-finals of the Bronze level Cleveland Classic, after she had downed World No.14 Salma Hany. She then made it to the third round of a Platinum event for the first time in her career, doing so at the CIB Black Ball Women’s Squash Open, beating then-World No.6 Joelle King.

“At the beginning of the season I messed up a little! I wasn’t really satisfied with the way I started the season, but it gave me a push to ended it in a better way,” she explained.

“Then I started making it better step by step, until I ended it with my biggest career wins in beating Joelle King and Salma Hany!”