1996: 30 Years Of Perfection

For three decades, squash has returned to the Pyramids of Giza searching for something larger than victory.

Since the first staging of the Al-Ahram International in 1996, the glass court beneath the ancient stones has become more than a sporting venue. It has become mythology.

A place where modern athleticism collides with one of civilisation’s oldest landscapes, where movement and monument exist in the same frame.

The images endure because they feel almost impossible.

Players gliding across polished floors beneath structures that predate organised sport itself. Floodlights cutting through desert darkness. The geometry of a squash court suspended against the geometry of antiquity.

And yet the story of the Pyramids is not merely aesthetic. It is transformational.

The venue arrived at precisely the moment Egypt was beginning to reimagine its place within world squash. Ahmed Barada’s emergence in the 1990s gave the country a sporting hero; the Pyramids gave that rise a stage grand enough to contain it.

Together, they altered the trajectory of the sport.

What followed was not just a tournament, but a movement.

Generations of Egyptian children grew up watching the world’s best compete in front of the most recognisable monuments on earth. Many would later return there themselves as professionals, chasing the same images they had first witnessed as juniors sitting in the crowd or watching on television.

Over time, the venue evolved alongside Egypt’s dominance of the game. The early editions now feel raw and experimental; later versions sharper, grander, more cinematic. But the essence never changed.

The Pyramids made squash feel important. Thirty years on, the venue still feels unique in world sport: not simply a backdrop, but a statement.

1996
The original. Squash's debut at the Pyramids - when a young Ahmed Barada stunned the draw to reach the final, where he played the then unassailable champion Jansher Khan.

1997
In 1997 a women's event was added, won by Michelle Martin, and during which seasoned squash photographer Steve Line took this image - perhaps the single greatest promotional image of the sport to date.

1998
Having captured the hearts and minds of the Egyptian public with his exploits in 1996, it was in 1998 that Barada cemented his status as a legend in Egypt - winning the Al Ahram International.

1999
In 1999 the World Open arrived at the Pyramids for the firs time, when Scotsman Peter Nicol beat Barada in the final.

2006
Following the retirement of Barada in 2001, the Al Ahram International went into hiatus, but the venue was brought back into use in 2006 for the men's World Open.

The event was staged for home hero Amr Shabana - who in 2003 became the first Egyptian ever to win the world title - to add another title to his crown. But competing under intense pressure and expectation, Shabana faltered and it was a young Frenchman Gregory Gaultier who would go up against David Palmer for the crown.

At 10-6 championship ball up in the fourth game, Gaultier had the title in his hands - until Palmer came back from the most improbable position. of all

2016
After a 10 year hiatus, Egyptian promoter Amr Mansi brought squash back to the Pyramids.

A whole new generation of Egyptian players - those who had watched Barada compete as children, now had the opportunity to fulfil a dream and play at the hallowed stage.

Karim Gawad won the men's event, Raneem El Welily the women's.

2019
For the first time the Pyramids played host to the women's world championships, which fittingly saw Nour ElSherbini defeat Raneem El Welily in an all-Egyptian final.

The previous day the duo had defeated Nouran Gohar and Hania El Hammamy, respectivley, in the first ever all-Egyptian semi-finals - indeed the first single-nation last four line-up in the event's 40-year history - and a moment that heralded a new era of Egyptian domination in the women's game.

2020
One of the first events to take place in the immediate post-Covid era was the 2020 Egyptian Open at the Pyramids.