Ismail Ahmed Abdelmoneim ( ar, إسماعيل أحمد عبد المنعم; born September 23, 1976), also known as Somaa, is an Egyptian-Lebanese professional basketball player for

Al Riyadi Club Beirut Al Riyadi Club Beirut ( ar, نادي الرياضي بيروت, lit=Sporting Club Beirut) is a multi-sports club based in Manara, a district in Beirut, Lebanon. Founded in 1934, the basketball team competes in the Lebanese Basketball League. T ...

of the Lebanese Basketball League. He was a main member of the Egypt national basketball team that participated in the FIBA Africa Championship 2001 in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

in Morocco and in the FIBA Africa Championship 2003 that took place in Alexandria, Egypt. He is nicknamed "The Egyptian Pharaoh".

Career

Ahmad began his professional career in 1993, when he was 17 and made his debut on

Al Ittihad Alexandria Al Ittihad Alexandria Club ( ar, نادي الإتحاد السكندري), simply known as Al Ittihad, is an Egyptian sports club based in Alexandria, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team, which currently plays in ...

of the Egyptian Basketball Super League. In 1996, he traveled to Lebanon to participate in the Arab Club Basketball Championship. He led the team to the championship beating Lebanese

Sagesse Beirut Sagesse Sports Club (), known as Hekmeh ( ar, الحكمة) in Arabic, is a multi-sports club in Lebanon. History Hekmeh, or Club Sportif La Sagesse was founded in 1943, under the patronage of the Maronite father Boulos Kike, supported by his e ...

. He was loaned from Wardia to play with

in the Arab Club Championship in 1998. Ahmad played a historic role in the team title scoring 21 points in the final. He was the second player with an Arab surname and the first with the Lebanese team. After the Rosary, he played in 1999 under the leadership of the Egyptian coach Azmi Sharif before returning to Egypt to play with Ittihad. He then returned to Lebanon from Champville gate in 2002. In the summer of 2002, Ahmad went to the United States to play for the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

in the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

, and then the Miami Heat the following year. On September 22, 2017, he signed with

Homenetmen Homenetmen ( hy, Հ.Մ.Ը.Մ., , short for hy, Հայ Մարմնակրթական Ընդհանուր Միութիւն, meaning ''Armenian General Athletic Union'') is a pan-Armenian Armenian Diaspora, diaspora organization devoted to sport and sco ...

. After one season, he returned to Al Riyadi where he stayed for two more seasons. In January 2020, Ahmad returned to Al Ittihad Alexandria after 13 years. In his first season he won the 2019–20 Egyptian Basketball Super League and was named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP). Ahmad also won two Egyptian Cups (in 2020 and 2021) with the team. After the season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ahmad agreed to a 50% salary cut with Ittihad. On May 17, 2022, Ahmad joined Al Riyadi Beirut for the final stage of the Lebanese Basketball League.

National team career

Ahmad has represented the Egypt national basketball team and has won the African Games three times. He also won three bronze medals at the FIBA AfroBasket tournaments.

Awards and accomplishments

Club

* Egyptian Basketball Premier League (x3) : 1994–95, 1995–96, 2019–20 * Egypt Basketball Cup (x2) : 2019–20, 2020–21 * Arab Club Basketball Championship (x4) : 1995, 1996, 2002, 2019

* Arab Club Basketball Championship (x1) : 1998

Al Riyadi Beirut Al Riyadi Club Beirut ( ar, نادي الرياضي بيروت, lit=Sporting Club Beirut) is a multi-sports club based in Manara, a district in Beirut, Lebanon. Founded in 1934, the basketball team competes in the Lebanese Basketball League. ...

* Lebanese Basketball League (x12) : 2005–2011, 2014–2017, 2019 * Lebanese Basketball Cup (x4) : 2006–2008, 2019 *

FIBA Asia Champions Cup The FIBA Asia Champions Cup, previously known as the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Champions Cup until 2002, is the Asian club championship for professional basketball. It is organised by FIBA Asia, and takes place once a year (since 199 ...

- Gold Medalist (x1) : 2011 * WABA Champions Cup (x2) : 2008, 2011 * Arab Club Basketball Championship (x5): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 Champville SC * Lebanese Basketball Cup (x1): 2004 Homenetmen Beirut BC * Arab Club Basketball Championship (x1): 2017 * Lebanese Basketball League (x1): 2018 * Lebanese Basketball Cup (x1): 2018

Egypt

Egypt National Team * FIBA Africa Championship - Bronze Medalist (x2) :

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

* All African Games 2007 * Qualifying to FIFA World Youth Championship in 1997

Individual

* Egyptian Basketball Super League MVP Award: (

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

)

References

External links

Player profile at www.Asia-Basket.com
(subscription required) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Ismail 1976 births Living people Egyptian men's basketball players Sportspeople from Alexandria Centers (basketball) Power forwards (basketball) Sagesse SC basketball players Al Riyadi Club Beirut basketball players Al Ittihad Alexandria Club basketball players Champville SC players