Before Ahmed Barada took to court, stunned the world no.2 and captured Egypt’s imagination. Before the television headlines and before anyone knew that first Al-Ahram International would become one of the most influential tournaments in the squash’s history.
There was simply a squash match.
A second-round encounter between England’s Simon Parke and Ireland’s Derek Ryan.
The first match ever played in front of the Pyramids of Giza.
For Parke, the significance of the moment was only part of the story. Just being there felt remarkable enough.
“The Al Ahram in 1996 was my first tournament back after going through chemotherapy,” he recalls. “I remember one of the first people I saw when I got to Egypt was the late, great Ahmed Safwat - a hero of mine - who had some lovely words of encouragement for me.”
Less than a year earlier, Parke had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Chemotherapy followed in February 1996. Simply returning to the PSA Tour felt like a victory.
“I was just really happy to get through my first round, so soon after having had chemo,” he says. “It was a brand new event on the Tour and I had a really tricky first round match against Karim Elmistakawy - who was a real handful on court - which saw me through to play against my good friend Derek Ryan.”
Then came an unexpected twist.
“It turned out then that we were the first match on, so the first players ever to compete in a match at the Pyramids.”
History often arrives quietly.
There was no sense then that the venue would become one of the most iconic settings in world sport. No sense that the week would help launch Egypt’s rise to squash supremacy. No sense that the images from Cairo would become some of the most enduring in the game’s history.
There was simply the view.
“Robert Edwards was the MC announcing us on and I remember it all just feeling a bit surreal at the time,” Parke says.
“I was there looking out at one of the seven wonders of the world, lit up beautifully in the night sky, with the perspex court right there in front of it like something out of a Jean-Michel Jarre album cover.”
For a moment, squash seemed to have escaped reality.
“It was amazing, but at the time you just have to concentrate on your match. I still had a bald head from the chemo, but I somehow managed to beat Derek in that match. I think it was the adrenaline and the excitement of both being back and also competing at an incredible venue that helped me through.”
The image of Parke and Ryan warming up before the match became almost as memorable as the contest itself.
“The picture of us warming up in the knock up actually made the cover of one of the broadsheet papers back home - I think it was The Guardian,” he says. “I wish I had that picture somewhere in my house now!”
Parke’s run eventually ended in the quarter-finals against the great Jansher Khan.
“I went on to play Jansher in the quarter-finals where I lost, which was no disgrace.”
What happened next would prove far more consequential than anyone present could have imagined.
“Little did we know what was going to happen that week with Barada coming through and the emergence of Egyptian squash since then,” Parke says.
“They’ve been dominant, and are only getting stronger, since then, but that event was a real catalyst.”
Nearly 30 years later, the names most associated with the Pyramids are Barada, Shabana, Ashour and the generations of Egyptian champions who followed.
Yet every story has a beginning.
And before the stars arrived, before the dynasty emerged and before Egypt changed squash forever, Simon Parke and Derek Ryan walked onto a glass court beneath the Pyramids and played the first match.
