Paris Olympics: Egypt's Doaa Elghobashy eyes 'something exceptional' in beach volleyball

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Back at the Olympics stage eight years after making her debut in Rio 2016, Egyptian Doaa Elghobashy is looking to draw on her experience to help guide her team to success in beach volleyball at the Paris Games.

Drawn alongside Spain, Brazil, and Italy in Pool A, Elghobashy and her teammate Marwa Abdelhady will begin their Paris campaign against Brazilian duo and 2022 world champions Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda ‘Duda’ Santos Lisboa on Sunday.

Back in 2016, Elghobashy and her then partner Nada Meawad were the first Egyptian tandem to compete in women’s beach volleyball at the Olympics.

Elghobashy was on track to qualify for Tokyo 2020 but late in the event all Egyptian players were disqualified from the continental qualifying tournament due to claims by event organisers that the coach of the Egyptian men’s team had tested positive for Covid, which ruled out the entire delegation for close contact.

The Egyptian team suspected foul play, especially that the women's pair were the favourites to secure a qualifying spot.

“That was the only reason we didn’t make it to Tokyo 2020,” Elghobashy told The National ahead of the Paris Olympics. “But thankfully we didn’t surrender, we kept training and working to make sure we qualified for Paris.”

A photo of a hijab-clad Elghobashy reaching for the ball across the net from her German opponent, a bikini-clad Kira Walkenhorst, went viral during the Rio Olympics, showcasing the beauty of diversity in sport.

Elghobashy was just 19 at the time and was suddenly thrust into the spotlight, with scores of people coming up to her at the Olympic Village to greet her.

She and Meawad received standing ovations during their matches on the famous Copacabana Beach. Elghobashy couldn’t believe she was receiving all this attention just because she played beach volleyball while covered up.

“The whole thing was new to me – to be the first hijabi player competing in beach volleyball, and to be the first Egyptian and Arab woman to make it to the Olympics in this sport. So for me, it was a challenge that was much bigger than just the hijab. I wanted to be the first person to do this. It was special,” Elghobashy said during an interview with The National in 2020.

After the disappointment of missing out on Tokyo, Elghobashy returns to the Olympics adamant of putting together better performances alongside Abdelhady.

“Last time we participated in Rio 2016; this time we want to get good results and not just show up to participate. We want to do something exceptional for beach volleyball in Egypt. And hopefully we’ll be able to achieve this,” said the reigning African Games champion.

“In Rio, we were young. I was 19 and my partner Nada was 18, so we weren’t experienced and it was a different story. This time we come to Paris as an experienced team.

“This is going to be my second Olympics, while my partner Marwa is making her debut. I will try to keep her calm and be a good leader of the team as someone who has gone through this experience before. I feel that will help us do better than last time.”

Elghobashy and Abdelhady used to be teammates at Al Ahly before the latter recently moved to El Shams club and the pair have a strong connection on the court.

“We are friends away from volleyball, which really helps us understand each other on the court. Being in sync is the most important thing, because it’s just the two of us on the court, we need to be able to communicate just by looking at each other, without talking,” said Elghobashy.

The beach volleyball competition has arguably the most iconic setting at these Olympics with the court staged at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

“Since I was a young girl, I always dreamed of playing any tournament in front of the Eiffel Tower. You can imagine how exciting it is to play the Olympics at such an iconic place,” said Elghobashy.

The clash between Egypt in Brazil will take place on Sunday at 20:00 UAE time.

Athletes and hijab