It was then that Egyptian quartet Ahmed Barada, Amr Wagih, Omar El-Borolossy and a young Amr Shabana wrote their names into squash’s history books, dethroning the titans of the game to claim Egypt’s first ever Men’s World Team Squash Championship title - heralding the start of a new era in men’s squash.
For this wasn’t just a win for Egypt; it was a statement - one that would disrupt the unchallenged dominance of England, Pakistan, and Australia, forever altering the world order of squash.
Leading into the 1999 World Team Championship no one saw Egypt, nor their eventual opponents in the final, Wales, as serious contenders. True, Egypt had developed a fierce reputation since the arrival of the Al Ahram tournament there years prior and the emergence of Ahmed Barada, who was swiftly climbing into squash’s top ranks.
But Barada has suffered recent heartbreak in the World Open final, and hopes surrounding the Egyptian team were modest.
Ahmed Barada takes on Alex Gough
Pundits braced for another battle between the perennial favourites: four-time defending champions England and the stalwart Australians.
It was with a sense of inevitability that England swept trough the group stage, beating Wales, Malaysia and Egypt for the loss of only one match (when Amr Shabana defeated Chris Walker) to top their group, while Australia recorded their own clean sweep of their group, dispatching Canada, Pakistan and Finland to cruise to the quarter-finals.
(Pakistan, having won the event in 1993 and finished runner-up in 1995, finished bottom of their group - a reflection of their failure to develop a robust junior programme in the midst of their most successful years.)
The procession towards an England v Australia final continued in the quarter-finals, when England easily beat France and Australia brushed past South Africa. Egypt for their part defeated Finland 3-0 to secure a semi-final position to face Australia - while Wales fought to came through against Canada, with no.1 string Alex Gough coming from 0-2 down to defeat Graham Ryding after one hour 43 minutes to secure a Welsh berth in the semi-final.
But sports thrive on the unexpected, and in the semifinals, Wales, a team seeded just fifth, shocked everyone by dismantling England in an unforgettable encounter.
The Wales team
England had already trounced Wales in the group stage, making the Welsh win all the more astonishing.
Alex Gough, Wales’ number one and the world’s 11th ranked player, delivered a devastating blow to England’s Paul Johnson (just days after Johnson had already beaten him in the group stage) in a match that wasn’t merely won; it was dominated, with Gough putting Johnson through a 5-9, 9-2, 9-1, 9-1 defeat that cracked England’s aura of invincibility.
Chris Walker duly took Greg Topping’s apart 9-1, 9-0, 10-8 to even the tie and set the stage for Simon Parke to wrap things up for England. Except David Evans, ranked 18, flummoxed the world number six and, with his two metre height, superb movement and range of shots, completely dominated Parke, winning 9-2, 9-3, 9-2 in 45 minutes.
Against all odds, Wales were through to the final:
Meanwhile, Egypt was charting its own electrifying path. Barada, the hero in waiting, thrilled his fans with a resounding 9-2, 9-1, 9-6 victory over Australia’s Dan Jenson, a masterclass that further whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
But the moment that would go down in Egyptian folklore belonged to young Amr Shabana.
Up against Paul Price, the pair split the first two games and in the third, Shabana was 8-2 ahead when Price pointed out that Shabana had a blood injury. Farcical scenes followed, which saw Shabana twice leave the court - the result being that Price was awarded the third game!
The score now read 4-9, 9-7, 9-8 in Price's favour.
Shabana came back, with six inches of strapping on the wound and murder in his heart. He was unstoppable and won the fourth game 9-4 to the screaming, stamping, chanting delight of the Egyptian crowd.
The fifth was quite unbelievable, Shabana making six errors in short order to trail 1-6, hushing the crowd in disbelief; Shabana's shoulders drooped and, just when it looked all over, one of his drops sent Price the wrong way.
With the service back he suddenly hit a blue streak and in one hand took eight points to win 9-6. Hysteria reigned at the victory, at justice being done and at Egypt earning a place in the final.
For Australia it was an ignoble loss and manager Rodney Martin sat motionless and stone faced.
Egypt after victory over Australia
Omar El-Borolossy v David Evans
1999 Men’s World Team Championship Final - Egypt versus Wales
In a final that brought together two unlikely contenders, Egypt and Wales faced off in a scene of raw tension.
Each was new to this pressure, neither having tasted a World Championship final before. Egypt entered buoyed by its raucous home crowd, riding a cresting wave of national pride and belief. But Wales, fresh off their dismantling of England, were infused with the confidence of underdogs who had already exceeded expectations.
As the players took to the court, this was no mere match; it was a battle for legitimacy, a chance for Egypt’s firebrand talent to triumph over the establishment’s calculated regimen and sheer grit.
The opening rubber, Barada versus Gough, set a tone that was anything but ordinary.
Barada claimed the first two games quickly, igniting the Egyptian fans’ hopes. But Gough, exhausted from his brutal run through five-game marathons in earlier rounds, wasn’t going down easily. He rallied, clawing his way back with a 9-0 fourth game and pulling ahead 6-2 in the fifth - a scoreline that threatened to shatter Egyptian hopes.
But Barada was unyielding, responding with the intensity that defined his rise, and took the game 9-6. Egypt was now ahead, and the crowd could feel the possibility of history growing closer.
Egypt’s number two, Omar El-Borolossy, stepped onto the court to face David Evans, the man who had stunned England’s Parke.
If Barada was the star, El-Borolossy was the team’s steady pulse. With every rally, the Cairo crowd’s fervour grew, amplifying his every shot and movement. Though Evans pushed him, El-Borolossy’s resilience held firm.
In a dramatic third game, he emerged victorious with a 10-8 scoreline and went on to overpower Evans in the fourth, securing Egypt’s second win and with it, the title. As the referee’s final call confirmed the victory, the stadium erupted. Fans flooded onto the court, embracing a tearful El-Borolossy, whose relief and joy were palpable.
In the final dead rubber, Shabana closed out the match with a quick win, but the score was now academic. Egypt’s conquest was already immortalised.
Egypt’s victory was more than a maiden title; it was a seismic shift in squash’s hierarchy. As Cairo’s fervour eventually subsided and the teams departed, few could have guessed just how complete Egypt’s dominance in squash would become.
This moment, ignited by Barada, El-Borolossy and Shabana, would lead to an era of Egyptian mastery, producing a steady lineage of players - Karim Darwish, Ramy Ashour, Mohamed ElShorbagy, Ali Farag and Mostafa Asal among many others - who would monopolise the sport’s biggest stages.
1999 Tournament Director Andrew Shelley aptly noted that squash’s future was moving away from the predictable.
No longer would England, Australia, or Pakistan sit secure on their thrones. It was Egypt’s time to shine.
