Abdelfattah AbouTaleb, better known as "A.A. AbouTaleb", or simply "AbouTaleb", was a

squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

player from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. During the 1960s, he won the

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

three times. AbouTaleb started out by sweeping the courts at

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

's National Sporting Club, where his brother was the

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

professional. At first, he had to play with discarded broken rackets and burst balls. AbouTaleb reached the final of the British Open for the first time in 1963, when he lost to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

's Mo Khan in five-sets 9–4, 5–9, 3–9, 10–8, 9–6. (The British Open was considered to be the effective world championship of the sport at the time.) AbouTaleb then went on to win the British Open title for the next three consecutive years. In 1964, he beat

Mike Oddy Michael Oddy (1937–2016) was a squash player from Scotland. He was one of the game's leading players in the 1960s. He played in an era where the sport was dominated by great players from Pakistan (such as Azam Khan, Roshan Khan, Mo Khan and A ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the final 9–3, 9–7, 9–0. AbouTaleb's win that year marked the end of 13 years of Pakistani domination of the British Open men's title. The following year, AbouTaleb beat fellow Egyptian player Ibrahim Amin in the final 9–0, 0–9, 9–1, 9–6. His third and final British Open title came in 1966, when he defeated Pakistan's Aftab Jawaid in the final 9–6, 5–9, 9–3, 9–1.

British Open final appearances

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aboutaleb, A. A. Egyptian male squash players 20th-century Egyptian sportsmen Living people Year of birth missing (living people)