Egypt World Team Champions: the start of a long reign?

Main story: Egypt reclaimed their World squash title in Marseille

Egypt lived up to their position of favourites last week in Marseille, winning the Men's World Team Championship without dropping a match. They are more than ever the super power of squash. Here is a round-up of the competition. 

A few seconds after beating James Willstrop, Ali Farag is celebrating the World Team title with the Egyptian camp (Photo credit: Fédération Française de Squash)

They had been taken over the PSA World Squash Tour since the start of 2017-2018. The Pharaohs extended their domination at the World Team Championship last week in Marseille, France, winning their six ties without losing a single match. They thus reclaimed the title they'd lost in 2013, and put their names on the records for the fourth time in the MWTC's history. How can you beat a team that don't need the current best player in the world - Mohamed El Shorbagy - and can leave 3-time World Champion Ramy Ashour on the side for the final? This was the equation for the other 23 participating countries, and the ones who got closer to solve it were Hong Kong China, Tsz Fung Yip and especially Max Lee causing some problems to Marwan El Shorbagy and Karim Abdel Gawad in the semi-final, respectively. England and their wealth of experience were Egypt's main rivals on paper, but Nick Matthew's wasn't able to defend his chances against Gawad. "Nick had a problem with his ankle prior to go on court," said England's coach David Campion, "and it impaired his movement. It's a shame because him winning would have put some pressure on Farag. But Ali was too good today, he played very freely. We're disappointed not to have been able to push them harder, but I am still happy with how we performed this week, we really played as a team." Although James Willstrop fought until the bitter end, Egypt's number 2 Ali Farag put on an impressive display to win in straight games and seal the deal. "What it means to me is much bigger than the word big!" he said a few minutes after the prize ceremony. "I was not playing only for myself, but for my teammates, my staff, the squash community in Egypt and beyond, so I had all that pressure on my shoulders. I really wanted them to make them proud, and thank god I did. Representing Egypt has always been a dream of mine, so I'd say this is the higlight of my career, I hope Nour won't mind (author's note: he's referring to their common victory at the US Open)." Questioned by WSF Media Director Howard Harding (who was underlining that his country now hold every World title, except the Men's World Junior Team Championship), Farag added. "This is something we can be proud of. It also shows how close-knited we are, we always give other advice. Look at Ramy, he values the team more than himself and accepted the coach's decision today to leave him out. In fact, he deserves this title more than anybody else."

Iraq, Saurav Ghosal, New Zealand, Rodney Durbach and Hong Kong are among those who wrote the history at the 25th Men's World Team Championship (Photo credits: Fédération Française de Squash, Hong Kong Squash)

A FEW QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE 2017 MEN'S WORLD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP. The shock of the tournament was Hong Kong beating crowd favourites France in the quarterfinal. The Asians got the best final result in their history, sharing the bronze medal with Australia --- It was the first time that France exited at such an early stage since 2001. --- Several players were unbeaten in Marseille, among them “Superman” Paul Coll, who spent 5 hours and 16 minutes on court during the knockout stage in 4 matches. He and his teammates performed the first ever Haka on a squash court before their encounter with France in the 5th/6th place playoff match. --- The unlucky hero of the week was India's number 1 Saurav Ghosal, who lost 4 matches in 5 games! Exhausted, he was not able to play on Sunday, but his teammates got the 7th place at the expense of Scotland. --- Besides Hong Kong, three other countries got their highest final ranking: of course debutants Jamaica and Iraq (22nd and 23rd, they each won one tie), as well as Spain (12th), who had to play without their number 1 Borjan Golan - injured - from the round of 16. --- Veteran Rodney Durbach (45 years old) made the headlines, beating two players more than 20 years younger than him, both times in the tie-break of the fifth game! South Africa made the biggest progress compared to their seeding (18th, seeded 22).

Other squash news

Before they put their hands on the Men's World Team title, Egypt had extended their domination on the PSA World Tour in Hong Kong, where both finals were all-Egyptian affairs. 

Mohamed El Shorbagy is definitely the best player in the world at the moment. In Hong Kong, the "Beast of Alexandria" won his fourth tournament of the season, including two World Series events. His record in 2017-2018 is now 22 wins for 1 only loss, against Ali Farag at the US Open. For the fourth time this season, he met his compatriot in the final in Asia, and the match went to 5 games. At 2-1 up and 5-1 in the fifth game, El Shorbagy seemed to be on his way to victory, but Farag won 10 of the 12 following rallies to level at 2-all. In the fifth, the power of the world No.3 (up to No.2 in the new rankings, see below) made the difference and he wrapped it up, 11-3. “We’ve played so many battles in the last few weeks and I want to congratulate him and all of his team,” said El Shorbagy (Source: PSA World Tour). "He's played unbelievable squash at the last few tournaments and I’m looking forward to having many more battles with him in the future. I’m happy I’m playing well again this year, I’ve done a lot of work this summer and I’m really proud with the way I’ve started this season, but there is still a long season ahead." Nour El Sherbini's start of the season has been almost as impressive as El Shorbagy's: three titles in four tournaments, her only loss also having been at the US Open against Nour El Tayeb. The only match in which the word number 1 was in danger in Hong Kong was her semi-final against Laura Massaro: at 2 games to 1 down, she was able to turn things around and dominate the fifth game (11-3). In the final, she was merciless against her compatriot Raneem El Welily - who had run out of gas after two epic battles in the previous rounds with Joelle King and Camille Serme - closing it in less than 30 minutes. "It’s my first World Series title in almost two years, so it’s special,” said El Sherbini (author's note: actually a year and a half, and she is not including the two World Championships she won during that time ...). “This title was really important for me so I could get my confidence back and to feel that I’m playing well before the World Championships. This tournament has given me a huge push and I’m really happy to win the Hong Kong Open.” The two Egyptians will come into the World Championship in Manchester s favourites but their recent history in the event is very different: El Sherbini has won the last two editions, while El Shorbagy is yet the most prestigious title in the calendar.  

 The finals in Hong Kong were once more all-Egyptian affairs (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

--- In early November, the Professional Squash Association announced that the Saudi PSA Women’s Squash Masters – originally scheduled to take place between November 26 – December 1 in Riyadh – was postponed to January 7-12 due to logistical challenges. “We are confident that the postponement of the tournament will enable us to put on a world-class event featuring the world’s top players,” said PSA Chief Executive Alex Gough. “The logistics of running any major event is a challenge, but we are pleased to have secured the dates for January and believe that the Saudi Masters will get the new year off to an exciting start, and we look forward to bringing professional squash to the country for the first time since 2010 in January.” It will certainly be a busy month for the top female players, since the Tournament of Champions starts on the 18th of January. 

--- The new World rankings were published on the 1st of December. While Grégory Gaultier held his number 1 position, Mohamed El Shorbagy went up to No.2 thanks to an exceptional last few weeks, during which he won two World Series events - Qatar and Hong Kong. There are three other Egyptians in the top 5: Ali Farag (+1, highest world ranking), Karim Abdel Gawad (-2) and Marwan El Shorbagy (+1). Nick Matthew (6th) sits at his lowest ranking since 2009, while Paul Coll continues his rise (8th, HWR), as well as two young prospects, Mohamed Abouelghar (11th) and Diego Elias (12th). After his early exit in  à Hong Kong, Ramy Ashour falls to 17th, just behind Saurav Ghosal (+5). There were no change in the Women's top 10, Nour El Sherbini topping the rankings for the 20th consécutive month. Olivia Blatchford (12th) and Tesni Evans (14th) reached the highest world ranking of their career.

December's world rankings (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

December hotspots

--- The PSA Men’s and Women’s World Championships start tomorrow in Manchester with the Men's qualifying first round. This will be only the second destination ever - after Rotterdam in 2011 - to host both events concurrently. A record prize money will be on offer across both draws, and for the first time ever the prize purse will be equal, both winners set to take home over $45,000 each. Early round will be played at the National Squash Centre before moving to Manchester Central from the quarter-final stage onwards. Here is a quick look into draws and potential clashes. In the 64-player men's draw (which Elias and Dessouky have pulled out of because of injury), the quarterfinal theoretical line-up is the following - Gaultier v Coll, Matthew v Mohamed El Shorbagy, Farag v Momen and Marwan El Shorbagy v Gawad - but the previous round may offer some mouth-watering matches: Matthew v Rosner, Gawad v Willstrop and ABOVE ALL Mohamed El Shorbagy v Ramy Ashour. The two Egyptians have twice in the WC final in 2012 and 2014, and had produced exceptional matches, twice won by Ashour. In the women's draw, here are the potential quarterfinal line-ups if previous rounds go according to seedings: El Sherbini v Gohar, Massaro v El Tayeb, Serme v Perry and El Welily v David. The Malaysian superstar, 8-time World Champion, will face Jenny Duncalf in the first round for a remake of the 2011 final. Another potential early big match could be Perry v King in the round of 16, the Kiwi having won their most recent encounter in Hong Kong. 

The PSA World Championships start on Friday in Manchester (Photo credit: AJ Bell World Championships)

--- Top-level squash will be back in Pakistan from the 17th to the 23rd of December. The country who dominated the sport in the 80s and early 90s will host its most luccrative men's tournament for 11 years, and its biggest women's event ever (Source: Squashinfo). World number 5 Marwan El Shorbagy is number 1 seed in a very strong 32-player men's draw ($50,000), in which also features his compatriots Mohamed Abouelghar, Zahed Mohamed and Mazen Hesham, as well as the three Hong Kong players who got the bronze medal at the MWTC earlier this month (Leo Au, Max Lee, Tsz Fung Yip). Leo's sister Annie Au is top seed in the women's draw ($25,000), where we also find 2017 World Junior Championship winner and runner-up, Egypt's Rowan El Araby and Hania El Hammamy, as well as former world number 1 Rachael Grinham. Local hopes will be carried by Farhan Zaman (men's) and Sadia Gul (women's).