Osama Khalifa

Early life and education

Born in Cairo, Khalifa first became a regional swimming champion, before turning his full attention to squash at age 10. He has four siblings, including older brother Amr Khaled Khalifa, who won the individual and team World Junior Squash Championships in 2010. Khalifa attended the Sakkara International School in Cairo, maintaining high honors. He matriculated to Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts in 2012 as a high school junior, and graduated in 2014 as an honor roll student.

Khalifa is currently a junior at Columbia University majoring in statistics. He was selected for Academic All-Ivy honors and named a Columbia Scholar-Athlete with honor roll postings each year.

Junior Squash Career

Khalifa trained with the Egyptian National Team from age 11, and participated in all of the major international junior tournaments. He won the British Junior Open Squash Under-13 group in 2008 and the French Junior Open Squash U15 in 2010. He also won the German Pioneer Cup U17 and the Dutch Junior Open in the U17 and U19 categories. At age 16, he was one of the youngest players ever to win the Dutch Junior Open.

In the summer of 2012, at age 17, Khalifa competed in the PSA Barossa Valley Open in Australia, where he lost to the second seed Mike Corren in the semi-finals.

In September 2012, Khalifa moved to the United States, enrolling at Deerfield Academy. Khalifa went undefeated during his two-year tenure at Deerfield. He led Deerfield Academy to finish at their best ever, 4th place position at the United States High School Team Squash Championships held in Philadelphia in February 2013, and a 2nd place finish at the New England Championships. He won the New England High School Individual Championship title both years he competed, in 2013 and 2014.

Khalifa reached the finals of the US Junior Open Championship in December 2012, losing to Karim El Hammamy, who became the Individual World Junior Champion later that season. In February 2013, Khalifa represented the winning Egyptian National Team in the World Junior Squash Championships in Wroclaw, Poland.

College Squash Career

In September 2014, Khalifa matriculated to Columbia University. During his freshman year, Khalifa garnered the Ivy League Rookie of the Year award, was named a 1st Team All-American, and finished #2 in the Nation.

In Spring 2015, the Columbia Lions climbed from 6th place to their best-ever 4th place overall at the United States Intercollegiate Team Squash Championships held at Trinity College in Connecticut. Khalifa was named a co-captain of the Columbia team for the 2015-16 year, as a sophomore.

Over sophomore year, Khalifa set a 7-0 Ancient Eight record at the No. 1 position, becoming the second player in program history to earn Ivy League Player of the Year honors. A 9-0 regular season record and a CSA National Championships Pool Trophy (A Division) appearance led to his second consecutive 1st Team All-American and 1st Team All-Ivy selection.

Over junior year as co-captain, #1 nationally-ranked Khalifa became the first-ever Columbia squash player to win a national championship, defeating Rochester's Mario Yanez in the finals of the Individual National Championships A Division held at Dartmouth College. At the CSA championship he posted wins over Drexel's Omar El Atmas, Harvard's Saadeldin Aboudaish, and St. Lawrence's Mohamed El Gawarhy. Khalifa earned the 1st Team All-American and 1st Team All-Ivy honors for the third straight season and became the Ivy League Player of the Year for the second straight season. He was named the William V. Campbell Performer of the Year (male), Columbia University's top annual athletic award.