Egypt's long-awaited return to the centre-stage of world squash is being led by the brilliant young Ahmed Barada. He first appeared at 253 in the PSA World Rankings in September 1992 as a 15-year-old, moving into the top 100 at 78 in July 1993. It was January 1995 that he broke into the top 50, at 35, and eighteen months later before he crashed into the top 20, jumping 15 places to No.14 in July 1996. His top ten debut came in January 1997, at No.7, and he maintained his position in the top ten into 1999, reaching his career-best No.2 position in December 1998. 

Despite winning four British Junior Open titles from 1991-1994, adding also the World Junior Open title in 1994, it was in May 1996 that the teenage Barada truly became a star. Before thousands of supporters and millions of Egyptian television viewers, he rode a wave of talent and determination during Cairo's inaugural Al-Ahram International Championship to become the first wildcard player ever to reach the final of a PSA Super Series event. 

Performed over four nights against a backdrop of illuminated pyramids and the desert sands of Giza, Barada's effort defied all expectations. Egypt has recently produced a bumper crop of young talent, but the Cairo-based Barada catapulted to the top of the pack with stunning victories over world No.2 Rodney Eyles and No.6 Chris Walker during the $100,000 tournament. Only Jansher Khan withstood the young meteor and the emotional crowds, dousing Barada in the final 15/4 15/11 15/8. 

It was just before his giant-killing exploits in Giza that Barada won his only title of the year - the $100,000 Mutalite Francaise No.6 in France, a tournament which pitted his skills against those of several mid-tier touring professionals. Since then, Barada has been shown no mercy by his fellow competitors. In late August, the fast-rising Canadian Jonathon Power outfought him 3-2 in a tense first round match during the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open - the Egyptian later reversing the score in a US Open 
quarter-final before losing to Peter Nicol in the Semis. 

He achieved mixed success in 1997, beginning by beating top seed Simon Parke to reach the final of February's Val de Loire event in France (where he lost 3-0 to Power) and continuing with his first-time appearance in the Super Series Finals in Hatfield, England - where he beat Peter Nicol and Zubair Jahan Khan en-route to losing 3-2 to Parke in the play-off for third place. 

His third appearance in the British Open also coincided with both his debut as a seed and his first ever victories - including a 3-2 win over Australia's in-form Dan Jenson which put him into a semi-final against Jansher, where he claimed the first game before going down 13/15 15/8 15/8 15/4. 

His return to the Al-Ahram stage led to a place in the last four - and a 3-1 defeat by Peter Nicol after a further victory over world No.2 Rodney Eyles in the quarters. A brief departure from the PSA Tour gave Barada the taste of world success when he won the World Games title in August, beating Ireland's Derek Ryan in the final in Finland. Barada appropriately ended 1997 on a high - beating Jansher Khan 12/15 15/7 15/12 15/8 for the first time in the final of the Heliopolis Open in Cairo to win his only PSA title of the year, on home soil. 

His 1998 start was delayed by flu, which prevented him from competing in the Super Series Finals. Thus his first event was the Austrian Open, in which he reached the quarter-finals where he lost 3-1 to England's Chris Walker. An indifferent period followed, beginning with April's British Open which was disastorous for Barada and his home country - no Egyptians succeeded in reaching the second round of the premier event, the world No.5 himself losing 3-1 to Canada's Graham Ryding in the first round in London. 

By July, he had failed to reach his seeded position in the Lisbon Expo Open in Portugal, losing to Alex Gough in the semi-finals, and had dropped to 7 in the world after holding 5th place since January. In August's Hong Kong Open, he was stopped in the last eight by Canada's Jonathon Power who went on to take the title. 

Barada's finest hour, however, was to come - back home in Egypt in the Al-Ahram International, the event which two years earlier had provided his breakthrough on the PSA Tour. He was the 6th seed, and faced his first significant obstacle in the quarter-finals where he met world champion Rodney Eyles, the No.3 seed. Spurred on by the partisan crowd of some 5,000 vociferous fans, he overcame Eyles 15/13 17/16 15/12 in his third successive quarter-final defeat of the Australian in the event. 

He then fought back from 2-1 down to beat 7th seeded Englishman Paul Johsnon 15/5 11/15 13/15 15/8 15/9 in a 91-minute semi-final, only to discover that his final opponent was not top seed and world No.1 Peter Nicol - but his Scottish compatriot Martin Heath, surprise winner of their semi in straight games. Barada eventually clinched the Al-Ahram crown - surviving a tough five-game battle 15/7 15/17 15/11 13/15 15/13 in 98 minutes to win his first Super Series title. 

This proved to be the high-point of Barada's year - which resulted in his Dunlop PSA ranking soaring to a career-high No.2 in December. As the year drew to a close, he was unable to repeat his homeland success - seeded to win the Pakistan Open in November, he lost 3-1 to Canada's Graham Ryding in the semi-finals, then failed to capitalise on 'home advantage' in the Heliopolis Open in Cairo later in the month, losing in five to Peter Nicol in the last eight. The quarter-finals were also his final round in December's World Open in Qatar, where local support was almost as fanatical in Egypt, but where a thigh injury prevented him from providing any significant opposition against Jonathon Power, who won 3-0 and again went on to win the title. 

He and Power met again in the first major tournament of 1999, the Tournament of Champions in New York, in which Barada beat Anthony Hill, Alex Gough, and Paul Johnson to reach the final against the Canadian. In an altogether different encounter, Barada had a 2-1 lead, and was 9/5 and 13/11 in the fifth game before Power ultimately won 15/12 13/15 16/17 15/7 15/13 in 90 minutes. Barada confirmed that he had been happy with his game. When asked how he read Power's game so well, h ackowledged: "I have 
been watching videos." 

In London in May, Barada beat England's Paul Johnson 3-0 to reach the final of the PSA Super Series Finals, where he lost for the second time in two days to Peter Nicol. 

He and Nicol met again in August -in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open. Barada needed five games to overcome qualifier and fellow Egyptian Amr Shabana in the opening round, then passed Britons Mark Chaloner and Alex Gough (each in four games) to reach Nicol in the last four. The opening game went to the Egyptian, but Nicol extended his winning streak to take Barada in four. 

Egypt hosted the World Open and Team Championship in September - and Barada was able to exploit home advantage to the full. After beating Daniel Forslund, Tony Hands, Omar Elborolossy and Anthony Hill before loyal home crowds without conceding a game, he was in the semi-finals where he faced world No.1 Jonathon Power. After losing the opening game to the Canadian on the open-air court by the Great Pyramids of Giza, Barada was staging his fight back when a knee injury caused Power to concede the match. Vociferous support support from the 5,000 strong Egyptian crowd was not enough to prevent Peter Nicol winning the final in straight games. 

The young Egyptian's reward was still to come, however, for Barada then led Egypt to a first-time success in the team event, with 3-0 wins over Australia in the semi-finals and then Wales in the final to endorse his superstar status in his country. 

His success on hom soil in 1999 continued two months later when he became the first player in recent times to beath both Jonathon Power and Peter Nicol in the same tournament - achieving the feat in the Heliopolis Open when he crushed Power in straight games in the semis, then the defending champion Nicol 3-0 in the final in Cairo, to win back the title he first claimed in 1997. 

Ahmed is clear about his future: "I have one simple aim - to become champion of the world." 

His achievements to date suggest that this goal is still well within his sights.