Nouran Gohar is ruthless on the squash court. Hence her nickname of "Terminator". With 23 individual titles to her name, the Egyptian is nevertheless dreaming of a crowning achievement: the Olympic Games. For that to happen, squash would first have to be included in the list of Olympic sports.
Nouran Gohar has the Olympic Games in the back of his mind
Great champions are insatiable.Nouran Gohar is one of them. The Egyptian, world n°1 since April 2022 after dethroning her compatriot Nour El Sherbini, has no intention of stopping there. The 25-year-old has a new goal: to win in Paris. The French capital is home to the inaugural French Open. She is due to play her quarter-final match this Thursday (11.30am GMT). She will face Belgium's Nele Gilis (ranked 6th in the world). But beyond this tournament, her dream is to return in 2024 to compete in the Olympic Games. Unfortunately for her, her sport is not on the list of Olympic disciplines. This is a great disappointment for the Egyptian.
"My conviction is that squash must one day become an Olympic sport. With its combination of intensity, physicality and tactics, the sport has everything it takes to make a spectacle of itself. And as we can see here at the Palais de Tokyo, it's very easy to install a squash court in iconic locations. There aren't many sports where you can do that and play in front of the Great Pyramid or the Eiffel Tower," says Nouran Gohar in an interview with Le Figaro.And when asked whether it would be frustrating not to play in the Olympics during her career, she answers bluntly: "Yes, of course. Especially as I'm married to a fencer who took part in the Tokyo Games and who will normally also be doing the Paris 2024 Games. I'd love it if he wasn't the only one who could try to bring home a nice Olympic medal (smile)."
Egypt, land of squashIf Nouran Gohar is a world squash icon, she also owes it to the fact that her country gives a lot of credit to the sport. As proof, many champions are Egyptian.In fact, there are four other Egyptians in the world's top 10. Nour El Sherbini (2nd), Hania El Hammamy (3rd), Nour El Tayeb (5th) and Rowan Elaraby (10th).
"I think the first secret of this success is the tournament held in front of the Pyramids of Giza. In 1996, Ahmed Barada, who was once number 2 in the world, made it to the final and caused quite a stir in Egypt. Behind him, a lot of young people wanted to do like him, to become heroes. As a result, a lot of young boys and girls took up squash, and the momentum built up. So much so that today, squash can claim the title of number 2 sport in Egypt behind soccer. I hope it will be a similar day for France, with this tournament right in front of the Eiffel Tower", stresses Nouran Gohar. There's no doubt that if squash makes its Olympic debut, Egypt and Gohar will be there. In the meantime, she continues to step on her opponents at the various Opens.
