Egyptian squash champion Amina Orfi made history in Singapore during the VITAGEN Singapore Squash Open 2024 on Sunday. The 17-year-old defeated the women’s world number three and compatriot Hania El Hammamy to win gold at Singapore’s OCBC Arena. This victory marked Orfi’s sixth PSA Squash Tour title.
Orfi is now the youngest player to win a gold-level event, overcoming top seed El Hammamy with a score of 4-5 in 96 minutes, according to Africa News.
Orfi replaces current World No. 1 Nour El Sherbini, who became the youngest player to win a gold event when she won the Texas Open in 2014 at the age of 18.
After the game, Orfi told Squash Mad, “I feel so happy that I won; I can’t believe it at all. This is my biggest title and my biggest win so far, I’m very happy with how I played.”
She added, “The bounces were on my side and she hit a lot of unforced errors. That bought me the confidence I needed. I didn’t know when the next time that I would reach a Gold final would be, so I took it step by step, and I was motivated by Siva’s [Sivasangari Subramaniam] win in London this year. I told myself I could do the same.”
Since winning the WSF World Junior Championships in France in 2022, Orfi has continued to dominate the squash world. At 16, she won her first PSA World Tour title – the Bronze-level Squash On Fire Open in Washington DC.
Even so, Orfi juggles her academic obligations with her strenuous work ethic on thz e court by studying for hours off the court and in between games. She also plays—and defeats—some of the best players in the world on tour. She revealed that she would study to be a dentist if she didn’t play squash.
“This year was quite tough in terms of managing between school and squash,” she told World Squash in June. “I played so much events and was absent for long periods of time so I had to basically do the work alone during tournaments and study without being in class for the explanations. It gets tough at times when there is a high workload but at the same time I enjoy competing and so I’d do anything for that.”
The exceptional athlete also told the publication, “Serena Williams is my sporting idol, I like her aggressiveness, her will to win as well as her overall personality!”
Now, Orfi wants to win a platinum championship for the first time in the Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open, which will take place from December 2 to 8.
