El-Shorbagy is Not the First and Will Not Be the Last

Written by Dr. Hamada Alantably

Social media and news websites have been abuzz throughout the day with the news of the naturalization of Mohamed El-Shorbagy, the world squash champion and world number three, and his decision to represent England in squash competitions. What is strange are those voices that emerged to denounce the player’s action, alongside the Egyptian Squash Federation’s rush to issue a statement claiming that Egypt has many talented players, evidenced by the presence of six Egyptian players among the top 10 globally in the international rankings. They noted that all of them are professionals, and every professional player has personal convictions since their income depends on prize money—almost as if the federation is trying to say that if El-Shorbagy has left, we have a thousand El-Shorbagys.

Unfortunately, this policy is the exact same approach sports federations use with athletic champions. Every time, we come out with the same justifications: the player is at fault, unpatriotic, and other reasons and excuses officials always use to absolve themselves of responsibility and shift the blame onto others.

The reality we must all realize is that this scenario will not end and will keep repeating as long as an amateur system manages professional sports; as long as there is no oversight or accountability; and as long as accountability systems rely solely on financial audits that only check paperwork and the ability to arrange documents, regardless of the official’s actual competence. There is no accountability for failure, lack of vision, or the administrative disasters widespread across federations, alongside the repetition of the same faces in positions through a game of musical chairs. No one is listening, and Egyptian sports will never rise.

We must have an integrated system for Egyptian sports and foundational principles upon which sports management is built, alongside accountability for any failure, violation, favoritism, or nepotism. We possess the human resources of talented players across all sports—evidenced best by our athletes in wrestling, karate, weightlifting, squash, and other individual and team games. However, a talented player needs someone to manage them and solve their psychological and technical problems, because managing talent is far more important than the training process itself.

If we want to stop bleeding talented players in various sports and place Egyptian sports where it truly deserves to be, we must create a clear vision for Egyptian sports, professional management, and accountability systems. Unfortunately, no one is listening. The show will go on, and the flight of elite athletes across all sports will continue—fleeing from the hell of federations, fleeing from favoritism and nepotism, and fleeing from the cliques running Egyptian sports.

To God belongs the command before and after… Set things right, may God have mercy upon you.

By Dr. Hamada Alantably