How do the Egyptians manage to dominate squash? Ten out of the top sixteen players at the Windy City Open are Egyptians. Can’t remember the last time that one country dominated an individual sport to this extent!
Egyptian Domination! What’s the secret? https://t.co/q7OjreJJq6 @PSAWorldTour #Squash pic.twitter.com/fmdZllnN1N
— Dax Nair (@DaxNair) February 24, 2017
Ya Dax, China has dominated Badminton a lot longer and deeper than Egypt has in Squash in recent times. They probably focus on squash as the Chinese have done in Badminton who may be their model for all we know.
Although now, even though the top two spots in the men’s rankings of Badminton are split between China and Malaysia some others have been knocking on their door pretty hard. Among those are the Danes who used to be a powerhouse and now the Japanese and S.Koreans are in close contention too. Tournaments of this sport have so many countries involved with a very deep roster.
Another Chinese dominated sport is Table Tennis. They always end up in the top spots with Europeans close behind. That’s also been going on for decades now and the landscape will change as more countries establish numerous, rigorous training programs.
In the case of the Chinese the government does quite a lot compared to other countries in promoting and funding programs to keep their domination especially in the Olympics.
Nothing compares to their concerted effort on a National level to develop extremely skilled stars/players. They have been instilled with the mind set to win at any cost and do not take being beaten very well at all. Olympic Swimming events and Gymnastics is another example.
Cheers!
Thanks for the comparisons Arun.
Badminton and TT did cross my mind. Though, I am not sure if they ever had ten of the top sixteen seeds in a world class tournament come from one country. I could be wrong.