El Halaby plays world's best

This weekend, men's squash saw history in the making when sophomore Yasser El Halaby became the first amateur ever to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, an annual professional squash tournament. Seven out of the top eight players in the world were there.

El Halaby has not competed in this circuit since coming to Princeton, but he was given a wild card spot to enter into the qualifying rounds. In his first match, El Halaby swept Canadian David Phillips, No. 91 in the world. Most impressively, he fought a 90-minute battle against Brazil's best player (No. 69 in the world), Rafael Alarcon, to win, 3-2.

"It was pretty painful for me physically, as we were both working hard for every point, and the rallies seemed to go on forever," El Halaby said. "I managed to pull it off in the end in the fifth game."

These wins advanced El Halaby into the tournament, where he was finally beaten by world No. 16 Graham Ryding.

"I had a great match with him, but he was just too good for me on that day," El Halaby said.

Overall he was very excited about the experience.

"I was really happy with the way I played in this tournament," El Halaby said. "It was fun playing at this level of competition, and I was glad to know that I could still compete with the best players in the world."