CAIRO - The 34-year-old Sameh Sidhom has become Egypt's three-cushion champion for the 13th time in total and the 12th time in a row. Second place went to the youthful, 22-year-old Youssef Ossama. The championship was contested according to a special system with three qualifying tournaments in the regions, ending with two national tournaments. Sameh Sidhom, the title-holder in Egypt, confessed: ''This time I was a bit lucky, because I didn't win the last tournament.''
The final event was won by Riad Nadi, who beat 21 year old Kyrollos Gerges in the final match. The routine player Mohsen Fouda, who finished in a shared fourth place in the final ranking, eliminated Sidhom in the quarter-finals. With the 30 points for the UMB ranking, Sidhom remains the number 9 in the world, just ahead of young Korean Myung-Woo Cho. ''I am happy with the title'', commented Sidhom. ''And with the 30 ranking points, but unfortunately that does not result into places in the World Cups and international championships. I'm afraid that the pandemic will prevent players from travelling to tournaments for a longer time this year.''
The multiple Egyptian champion has no prospect of going on another mission after his performance in the Korean 5&5 tournament. ''Every day I try to keep my fitness up with work-outs and training.'' He confesses: ''I don't expect that we can play official tournaments as long as quarantines are mandatory.'' Sameh: ''Being locked up in a hotel room in South Korea has been a terrible experience for all players. For me, this was one of the toughest ordeals in my life.'' Sidhom also missed his second vaccination in Egypt because of the Korea trip.
Sameh Sidhom won four out of five tournaments played for the championship. He finished in the final ranking with 166 points ahead of Youssef Ossama with 135 points. ''I hope that in the coming months a few invitational tournaments will be organized. The most important for now is that no risks are taken for players.''The top four in the Egyptian championship:
1 Sameh Sidhom
2 Youssef Osama
3 Riad Nadi
4 Mohsen Fouda/Kyrollos Gerges.
The two players for the final match in the last championship event: Riad Nady (left) and 21 year old Kyrollos Gerges.