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

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. 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 ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

's National Sporting Club, where his brother was the

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

professional. At first he had to make do 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 ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

's Mo Khan in a five-set final 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 country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

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 his fellow Egyptian player

Ibrahim Amin Ibrahim Amin is a retired squash player from Egypt. Career In 1965, Amin finished runner-up at the British Open, losing 9–0, 0–9, 9–1, 9–6 in the final to fellow Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyp ...

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 Aftab Jawaid (also transliterated Aftab Javed; ur, آفتاب جاوید) is a former squash player from Pakistan, who was one of the game's leading players in the 1960s. He won the British Amateur championship three times (in 1963, 1964 and 1965) ...

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 Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Egyptian people