What a difference a day makes.

Two days ago, Egypt Coach Andrew Shoukry was shielding his men’s squad from social media criticism after a shock 2-1 defeat to South Africa. Today, both the men’s and women’s teams are into the quarter-finals after the men demolished No.2 seeds Malaysia in the last 16 and the women’s team cruised past England to top Pool A.

We caught up with Shoukry after the win over Malaysia to learn more about how his team had responded to the criticism.

Shoukry: “We felt so much pressure today, playing the No.2 seed in the round of 16.

“It was a very long 24 hours for us. I had to prepare, I changed the rooms between the players. I had to get everyone in the zone because it’s an early final for them.

“We have been doing so much video analysis for every player. I was a little bit not 100 percent precise about the squad, the lineup that we’re going to have [against Malaysia].

We didn’t play with our number two today, we pushed our number three into two and number four into three because actually as a game plan I saw it as a coach that Marwan Abdelsalam’s game and his game plan would fit against [Malaysia’s] Moganasundharam.

“And actually, it worked. And definitely having the World Junior Champion [Mohamad Zakaria] with our squad is a pleasure and a bonus. So we felt secure.

“At the same time, I felt like Marwan Assal had been tested in these kind of matches, if it went to a decider. So I was ready for that as well. We had all the scenarios on table. We had the scenario that we lost the first match, the scenario of our world champion losing, we had all the scenarios on the table, so we wouldn’t be surprised.

“And I think I’m not surprised with the performance of the boys. I didn’t even have a one percent doubt that we were going to make it. And I’m really happy with the performance of every one of the players and hopefully we continue, we keep pushing for the next rounds.”

On his players’ celebration after the win against Malaysia, with them covering an eye and an ear, Shoukry said: “The players felt so much pressure, even me. After the result against South Africa, [sections of fans] on social media and other platforms, they started to go hard on us and it was really, really tough. To be honest, I would like to thank the Egyptian Squash Federation, who were all supporting us.

“They said, try not to listen, just keep focusing on what you’re doing and keep pursuing what can do.

“The first the first action I took, I went back to the hotel, I got the phones from the players and told them not to look at social media. And they helped me doing that.

“So everyone was so under pressure like today. So they were putting their hands over their eyes and ears to say they’re not listening to or looking at the criticism.

“Of course, the tournament is not over. I just told them, ‘this is Egypt, we have to be in the finals anyway’ because of our history in squash. I told them to delay the celebrating because the tournament is not finished. So it was an answer to everyone who had been criticising the team, saying the team is bad and not going to win. We have the two [individual] world champions and we want to win the team golds as well.”

On the pressure of expectation Egyptian teams face, Shoukry said: “There’s so much pressure, I’ve seen it over the last few years with the national team. Even Zakaria, at 15 years old, was put under so much pressure by everyone, expecting so much.

“This is sport and everyone is a human being, and going to have a bad day. But this pressure is also part of the beauty of sport, and there is always going to be a winner and a loser in a match. We need to take the best out of a win but even if we lose, we learn a lesson.

“And we’re going to keep going and try to bring the medal back, because it’s been six years since we won the men’s team event!”

“So I told them, we’re not going to listen to anything else until we get the trophy.”

On whether his own experience representing Egypt at the WSF World Junior Championships had helped him to understand what his young players were going through, Shoukry said: “Definitely. I’ve been in the same situation. I played in the same generation as players such as Mohamed ElShorbagy and Karim Abdel Gawad.

“I played the World Juniors in 2008 and I’ve been delivering the experience that I have, when I got third place. And in the team event, even though we had a very strong team, we lost against Pakistan. And I’ve told the players to have fun with it, telling them about playing Aamir Atlas Khan and I said ‘these moments, you’re going to remember and it’s going to be remarkable for you guys, and it’s what you’ll be telling your kids and your grandkids.

“But if you are a top player and a top athlete, you have to expect that you are going to be criticised and under pressure. So let’s see what they can do, because I’m really happy with their performances.”

The 2024 WSF World Junior Squash Championships are taking place at Houston Squash Club, Texas, from 12-23 July. Find all the key information here.

Keep up with all the action at wsfworldjuniors.com.

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