Salim Cheniouni -Shaden Wahdan
Question 1: After being ranked number one in Qatar, how do you feel about being placed 24th in the world in the PSA rankings?
I’m really happy about this for sure, I worked really hard this summer... and I’m glad it’s paying off early in the season after only two tournaments I moved from 34th to 24th which is a big jump.
Question 2: With this new ranking achievement, what are your short-term and long-term goals?
My short term goal is to get to the top 20 which is very hard to do... Moving 4 more spots is way harder than the last 10 spots I just jumped - that’s when I must have bigger wins for the rest of the season to get to the top 20 .My main goal is to get to the top 10.
Question 3: How are your U.S preparations?
I’m loving it here in the US I feel like I’m home, my coach and my training partners are so nice and we all get along very well which helps us push each other day in day out in training and tournament.
Question 4: How do you see the progress of squash in Qatar?
At the federation we have a lot of kids playing and surely the best kids go to aspire to get more training and care as it’s a school at the same time, it comes at the end if a player wants to be a professional or not because with squash you either love it or hate it. If u want to do it u got to put 10Question 5: What words of encouragement do you have for Qatar’s future generations to get them more involved in the sport of squash?
If anyone likes a challenge and likes working hard... They should definitely try squash it’s the toughest sport in the world, or one of the toughest. It teaches you skills, coordination reflects speed and talent!
Question 6: outside of squash we have over 90 sporting events a year in Qatar, and the World Cup 2022 is coming up. What is your opinion on the sporting progress of Qatar as a nation, and how has this progress helped your career personally?
I had to choose between football, studying or squash... it was a very hard decision. One of the biggest reason I choose squash and sport over study, is because of the way Qatar is going with sport. We are putting everything in sport, I don’t know how to put it in words, but for sure to have the 2022 [World Cup] in Qatar is just a dream... we have the world championships in Qatar in many sports, not just football, we had squash 2012 and 2014 and we are having it in 2019 as well. Handball, 2019 athletics, so we are very into sport. And I’m grateful and thankful to be part of it.