Amanda Sobhy and Ali Farag win 2014 National Individual Championships!

Ben Heckscher ’57, two-time winner of the Pool Trophy (’56,’57), with Ali and Amanda, the 2014 Individual Champs

Both of Harvard’s #1 players won the Men’s and Women’s National Individual Championships yesterday at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Amanda Sobhy defeated Kanzy El Defrawy in three games. Kanzy is Trinity’s hard-hitting #1 player who was once ranked World #27 in WISPA and World #5 U19. In both the first and second games, Kanzy took early leads but Amanda pulled away to win 11-6 and 11-5. The milage that Amanda put into Kanzy’s legs was evident in the third as Amanda charged to an 11-3 finish. She is the first woman from Harvard to win the Ramsey Cup three consecutive times!  Despite the one sided scoreline, the Individual National Championship never comes easy. Amanda did a phenomenal job of staying focused throughout the weekend and performed well under pressure in the final.

Ali was next on court. He was plagued by errors in the first game and lost 11-6. In the second, he fell behind 6-2 before storming back to 9-9. It was a critical moment in the match where the tide could turn either way. Ali pressed on to take the second game 13-11. He made incredible gets to hang in and take the third 11-5. He rolled with the momentum to finish it off the fourth by a score of 11-4.

Recaps:

Amanda

http://gocrimson.com/sports/wsquash/2013-14/releases/20140302j8y1gs

Ali

http://gocrimson.com/sports/msquash/2013-14/releases/20140302x9uo14

Correction from Sunday’s blast: Brandon McLaughlin made it two the round of 16 where he was knocked off by Princeton’s #1, Sam Kang. He then went on to defeat Dylan Ward of Princeton and Karan Malik of Trinity to finish in the top 10. Haley Mendez defeated Princeton’s Libby Eyre in the round of 16 before losing to Amanda Sobhy in the quarterfinals. For two players at #2 on their respective ladders to finish in the top 10 in the nation while fighting through illness is unbelievable!