Dubbed \u201cthe queen of Egypt\u201d among her devoted fans, 3×3 basketball sensation Soraya Mohamed dreams of taking the national team to its first ever Olympic Games in 2028 and, in doing so, secure her place in history as one of Africa\u2019s most-decorated basketball stars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The recipient of multiple personal accolades, Soraya was named Africa\u2019s most valuable player (MVP) in consecutive seasons during her rise through the junior ranks, before becoming Egypt\u2019s youngest debutant for the 5×5 women\u2019s national team at the age of 16. She was shooting three-pointers as young as eight, she says, an early indication of her potential for reaching the sport\u2019s summit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While her promotion to the seniors was \u201cthe turning point in my life\u201d, Soraya continues, another milestone came in 2019 when she took 3×3 basketball by storm and was named MVP for a third time in her career at the FIBA Africa Cup Qualifiers. \u201cI was named MVP again and was also the top points scorer in the championships,\u201d she says. \u201cI love to play fast basketball and to make the no-look pass, so I thrive in 3×3 basketball. The sport has given me a new platform to entertain and express myself on the court. The fans are very special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her honorary title as Egypt\u2019s \u201cqueen\u201d is important to Soraya. While a nod to her popularity and success, she says it also \u201cmeans so much when young players say that they want to be like me\u201d, adding: \u201cThere is a pressure to keep performing at the highest level, until I retire from basketball, so it acts as a motivation for me to continue pushing myself and hope to inspire more young people to take up basketball in Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of her identity, Soraya was among the first players to wear the hijab during FIBA competition. At the beginning, she recalls both feeling conscious of the fact, but also empowered to represent her Muslim faith. \u201cIt defines my personality,\u201d she says. \u201cI am doing something I love when I wear the hijab. I feel that I can represent myself proudly. When people take photos with me and share them on social media, I\u2019m proud that I am representing my country, my religion, and people who might feel inspired to pursue their own dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
This sentiment extends to the rise in participation in women\u2019s sport, Soraya expands. Whereas men\u2019s football is traditionally known to be Egypt\u2019s most-watched sport, she highlights \u201cmany women are playing professional sport in Egypt\u201d because of its access and representation online and, as a result, \u201cwe have discovered so many champions in women\u2019s sport\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWhereas women\u2019s sport hasn\u2019t always been in the spotlight, basketball gives a new perspective of how women can succeed in sports like ours,\u201d she continues. \u201cAt the beginning of my career, men\u2019s football was the biggest sport in Egypt; social media has been the biggest tool for highlighting our sport, and particularly to women and young girls. When people see me in tournaments and get to know me, social media coverage helps promote the sport to so many more young people who see us play and hopefully feel inspired. This is the point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entering a new era of Egyptian basketball, it was family \u2013 not social media \u2013 which enabled Soraya\u2019s career to gather pace early on and continues to be a motivator. \u201cMy family is the one thing that keeps me going,\u201d she says. \u201cEvery player has their ups and downs. I\u2019ve had to skip so many social engagements to do what I do. My husband and son are the main highlights of my life. I just want my son to see his mother doing something that she loves and to be proud of me. My husband is my number one supporter. He is always sending me messages of support wherever I\u2019m playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trading 5×5 basketball for the 3×3 game, Soraya\u2019s ambition was at one time to help the women\u2019s national team reach its first senior World Cup finals. Having thrown herself into the FIBA 3×3 Women\u2019s Series, Soraya fulfilled her dream after qualifying for the FIBA 3×3 World Cup 2023, which saw Egypt eliminated at the pool stage. Looking ahead, she has higher expectations for the women\u2019s national team during its Olympics qualifying bid \u2013 reaffirming her ambitions to turn Egypt into a bona fide title challenger.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy ambition was always to help Egypt reach a World Cup tournament,\u201d Soraya continues. \u201cNow that we have done that, it\u2019s my dream to go to the Olympics and to leave a mark on basketball in my country. I was the first Egyptian player to receive a title in an African Championships. I now want to be among the first players to help Egypt reach the top three teams at the World Cup and to qualify for the Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dubbed \u201cthe queen of Egypt\u201d among her devoted fans, 3×3 basketball sensation Soraya Mohamed dreams of taking the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-197111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}