Squash
"I want to break Nour El Sherbini's record," says teen squash star Amina Orfi
After winning her first senior PSA Challenger title at the HCL SRFI Indian Tour, junior world champion Amina Orfi revealed her future plans in an interaction with The Bridge.
Amina Orfi of Egypt
Jodhpur: Two weeks ago, when the senior and U-19 Egyptian women's squash teams were combined, Amina Orfi got a chance to play with World No.6 Nour El Tayeb. On Tuesday, the 15-year-old, the youngest in the women's singles event at the Jodhpur leg HCL SRFI Indian Tour, romped home to win the title after dominating displays throughout.
"I enjoyed my time with such an experienced player. It motivated me to be here," Orfi told The Bridge about her experience of playing with El Tayeb and how it helped her win the title in India.
In the final, Orfi dismantled top seed Aira Azman of Malaysia 11-6 11-9 12-10 to clinch the coveted winner's trophy.
"India is always going to be special for me because I won my first senior title here. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and everyone was really kind - the staff members, organizers, taxi people", she said.
Amina Orfi is nothing less than a phenomenon in the world of squash. Already the junior world champion this year and a three-time British Junior Open champion, she is hungry to achieve more.
"Though I want to improve in the senior circuit, my goal is to also play major events on the junior level and hopefully break records there. I want to win at least four World Championships titles in the junior category because Nour El Sherbini has three," replied Orfi when asked about how she plans to manage playing at both levels in the near future.
Born in Cairo, a city known for churning world champions by the dozen, Orfi tried her hand at swimming, gymnastics and squash at the age of five.
"The one I liked is squash because I was actually able to play it. Swimming wasn't my thing, I was so cold in the water and crying," she added on a lighter note.
Orfi gradually increased her squash training and started competing in tournaments. In the next decade, she would go on to win everything there was to be won in the junior circuit.
Now the time has come for her to gradually move up the ranks at the senior level and the first big step has been taken in Jodhpur.
"The style of play, technicality and physicality on court is definitely different. But this is a challenge that I had to overcome and reach my goal which is to enter the Top 50 in the world by the end of this year," Orfi mentioned.
The way she played in Jodhpur makes us question the 'challenge' part. It was way more challenging for her opponents to keep up with her impeccable game.
Amina Orfi is destined for greatness, and only time will tell what heights she can reach.
