Raneem Mohamed Yasser Saad El Din El Welily ( ar, رنيم محمد ياسر سعد الدين الوليلي; born 1 January 1989, in

Alexandria, Egypt Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

) is a former professional

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

player from Egypt. She has reached a career-high world ranking of No. 1 in September 2015. She is a three-time finalist at the World Open, in 2014, 2016, and 2019/2020. She became the World Champion in 2017, after defeating

Nour El Sherbini Nour El Sherbini ( ar, نور الشربيني; born 1 November 1995) is an Egyptian professional squash player. She is a six time World champion and became the youngest woman to win the Women's World Championship (2015). In 2016, she retained h ...

in the finals.

Career

Junior career

Alexandria-born El Welily has emerged as one of the most skillful players on the PSA Women's World Tour since she turned professional in 2002. Raneem followed her brother into squash at the age of six and first played for Egypt in the World Juniors 2001 in

Penang, Malaysia Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay P ...

, then aged ten. Two years later when the event was played in

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 ...

she was part of the Egyptian winning squad, and in 2004 she represented the senior team that came fourth in the World Teams in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. The highlight of El Welily's junior career was when she became the world junior champion in

Herentals Herentals () is a city in the province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the city of Herentals proper and the towns of Morkhoven and . In 2021, Herentals had a total population of 28.194. The total area is . Saint Waltrude is the patron saint ...

, Belgium in 2005. Then she was voted

WISPA Wispa is a brand of chocolate bar manufactured by British chocolate company Cadbury. Using aerated chocolate, the bar was launched in 1981 as a trial version in North East England, and with its success it was introduced nationally in 1983. I ...

Young Player of the Year for 2005 for the second time after winning it in 2004. She lifted the World Junior Championship twice, in 2005 and 2007. Raneem also is a 6-time British Junior Open Winner.

Professional career

El Welily won her first senior Tour title in 2009 when she triumphed at the Heliopolis Open in Egypt. That win helped catapult her into the world's top twenty and, after making the semi-finals of the Malaysian Open despite being a qualifier, she promptly rose into the top ten. The Egyptian shot-maker doubled her Tour title tally in 2011 and four months later won the biggest event of her career so far, by topping then-World No.2 Jenny Duncalf to lift the prestigious Carol Weymuller Open. 2012 saw El Welily reach World No.2 for the first time and in September of that year she won her first World Series title by defeating World No.1 Nicol David in the final in the CIMB Malaysian Open. Also in 2012, she was part of the team that regained the world team title after winning a gold medal at the

2012 Women's World Team Squash Championships The 2012 Women's World Team Squash Championships is the women's edition of the 2012 World Team Squash Championships, which serves as the world team championship for squash players. The event were held in Nîmes, France and took place from November ...

; this was her second world team title success. She beat David again in the 2013 Cleveland Classic final to lift another crown. El Welily amassed three runner-up spots in the remainder of 2013, with David winning all three, before she won her second Malaysian Open title in 2014, beating Nour El Tayeb in the final. In 2014, she was part of the Egyptian team that won the bronze medal at the 2014 Women's World Team Squash Championships. She reached the final of the World Championship in December 2014 but David proved to be a stumbling block once more as she denied El Welily squash's biggest crown. Undeterred, El Welily had a terrific opening to 2015 as she won the Tournament of Champions, the Windy City Open and the Alexandria International to close the gap on David's hold on the World No.1 ranking. In May 2015 she was named as the PSA Women's Player of the year for the 2014/15 season. In September 2015, Raneem surpassed David to clinch the World No.1 ranking in the PSA Women's World Ranking. In 2016, she won her third world team title as part of the Egyptian team that won the gold medal at the 2016 Women's World Team Squash Championships. In 2018, she was part of the Egyptian team that won the 2018 Women's World Team Squash Championships, It was her fourth world team title. El Welily announced her retirement from professional competition in June 2020.

Personal life

El Welily was born and raised in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

. She is married to

Tarek Momen Tarek Momen (born 23 February 1988 in Cairo) is a professional squash player representing Egypt. He is a former World Champion, and reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 3 in February 2019. Career overview A PSA member since 2005, Tar ...

, a professional squash player. She graduated from the German School in Alexandria and between training sessions she also finds time to indulge her interests of music, jigsaw puzzles, and

sudoku Sudoku (; ja, 数独, sūdoku, digit-single; originally called Number Place) is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row ...

Titles (24)

World Open

Finals: 4 (1 title, 3 runners-up)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Welily, Raneem 1989 births Living people Egyptian female squash players Sportspeople from Alexandria 21st-century Egyptian women