READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Amina Orfi – Egypt’s unapologetic squash world champion

Teen star talks about facing Nour El Sherbini, being misunderstood, and dreams of becoming world No 1

Amina Orfi remembers exactly how she felt the first time she played Nour El Sherbini, one of her biggest inspirations growing up.

Just 16 years old at the time and competing in front of an Egyptian home crowd, Orfi faced El Sherbini in the third round of the 2024 World Squash Championships in a highly anticipated showdown between a former and current teen prodigy.

“In the beginning, I was a bit star-struck, I guess. And I didn’t play how I wanted to in the first game, but then I started to get it together,” Orfi told The National.

A teen in control

Another hot topic of conversation that followed Orfi at these World Championships was her abrupt split from her coach, former world No 3 Omar Mosaad, who was added to her team just a few months ago.

Pundits on Squash TV (the official PSA streaming platform) indicated Orfi had little control over her career decisions and that her parents were the ones to make that call.

She insists that is far from the truth.

“Squash TV definitely got the narrative a bit wrong here, or they didn’t know what really happened behind the scenes. Ever since I was 11, I’m the one who chooses my coaches,” said Orfi.

She felt she was “not that happy with a few things in training, that I feel like I’m doing my best, but I’m not seeing the results I want” and added that Mosaad “didn’t know what to say at the right time. It’s not that he was a bad coach, he just didn’t know what to say or how to bring out the best in me.”