Only a first-year student, and with three more seasons in a Bates uniform to go, Ahmed Abdel Khalek couldn't have fared much better than he did in his fantastic run through Pool Division play at the CSA Individual Nationals over the weekend.
Abdel Khalek (Cairo, Egypt) defeated fourth-seeded Ramit Tandon of Columbia University in the national quarterfinals on Saturday, before his run finally came to a close against the tournament's top seed, Todd Harrity of Princeton.
Abdel Khalek, the fifth seed, traded wins with Tandon in the opening two games of their quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon, before Abdel Khalek took control and finished off the 2012 First Team All-American in an impressive 11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5 victory.
The win set up a semifinal showdown Saturday evening against Harrity, whose lone loss of the season entering the match, as was the case with Abdel Khalek, came against 2012 individual champion Ali Farag of Harvard. Princeton's No. 1 player defeated Abdel Khalek in three games, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4, ending the NESCAC Player and Rookie of the Year's 19-match winning streak. Abdel Khalek finishes his brilliant season with a 23-2 individual record and will be named a CSA First Team All-American and become the program's second-ever All-American, joining four-time honoree Ricky Weisskopf '08.
