El Welily & Gawad win the PSA World Tour Finals

Raneem El Welily and Karim Abdel Gawad won the closing tournament of the 2018/19 season (Photo credit: #WorldTourFinals)

Main story: One more Egyptian double at the PSA World Tour Finals

Dominant throughout the week in her home soil, World No.1 Raneem El Welily overcame a fierce challenge from Camille Serme to claim victory at the PSA World Tour Finals. It also went to the wire in the men's final, Karim Abdel Gawad winning 12-10 in the 5th game against compatriot Mohamed Abouelghar. 

Raneem El Welily has been the woman to beat on the PSA World Tour this season, capturing five titles prior to the World Tour Finals and dethroning compatriot Nour El Sherbini to become world No.1. The 30-year-old from Alexandria was sensational in Cairo throughout the tournament, maintaining a 100% record leading to the final and beating Serme to finish top of Group A. But she was off the pace in the early stages of their final clash, and her French opponent stormed to a two-game lead. It would have been enough to see Serme take the win in the group stages or semi-finals, which were played using a best-of-three games scoring format. However, the finals reverted to the traditional best-of-five scoring, and that played into El Welily's hands as the Egyptian took two games in a row, drawing level. A tenacious Serme left it all out there on the court in the fifth and was forced to do a lot of running, and El Welily moved into the ascendancy to close out the win by a 3-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-6. It was her seventh win in a row against the French player, and the 23rd PSA title of her career. "I just gave it everything I had," said El Welily, who had finished runner-up at this tournament in two of the last three seasons. "Camille played really well today, she pushed me to the limit and she was just on fire the first two games. I salute her for a great season, she was so close to winning some titles and I am sure she will come back stronger next season. As far as I am concerned, all day long I was struggling with the idea of maybe having to play three games or even five, but when I was 2/0 down, I thought it was best of five for a reason. I just fought and tried to run as much as I can. I maybe needed to focus a little bit more, calm down whenever needed, and those words in between games really helped."

As it usually is in Egypt, the CIB PSA World Tour Finals were a great popular success (Photo credit: #WorldTourFinals)

Meanwhile, world No.4 Gawad captured his second major title of the season as he got the better of compatriot Abouelghar in the men's final, winning 12-10, 11-6, 5-11, 8-11, 12-10 to lift this trophy for the first time, a week to the day after he got married. Both players claimed notable semi-final scalps, with Gawad ending world No.2 Mohamed Elshorbagy's title defence, while Abouelghar dispatched world No.3 Tarek Momen to earn a place in his biggest final to date. Abouelghar, the lowest seeded player in the men's event, downed Gawad 2/0 to top Group A, but found himself on the wrong end of that scoreline as former world No.1 edged out the opening game, before some clinical attacking into the front corners saw the 27-year-old double that lead. The third game went the way of Abouelghar as he finally found chinks in his opponent's armour. The 25-year-old also claimed the fourth, bringing the match back to all square as he looked to emulate El Welily's comeback victory. The battle continued into a dramatic fifth, which saw play halted by a succession of video decisions. Gawad surrendered two championship balls as Abouelghar came back to force a tie-break, but converted on his third match ball as the younger Egyptian struck the tin to hand the match to his opponent. "If I knew this would happen then I would have got married six or seven years ago," said Gawad after winning the 21st PSA title of his career. "Abouelghar was one of my groomsmen, and he gave me a hard time on court, so hard luck to him, he played some amazing squash. I'm really happy to win the World Tour Finals. I'd like to thank the sponsors and CIB bank for their support over the last 12 months, as well as Karim Darwish and all the organisers for such a great tournament. It's always great to play tournaments in Egypt, we have six or seven players in the top 10, so we deserve to have more tournaments here."

Source: PSA World Tour

Other squash news in June

Raneem El Welily and Ali Farag crowned 2018/19 Players of the Year

As usual, the annual PSA Awards dinner took place on the eve of the World Tour Finals – formerly World Series Finals. Ali Farag picked up the PSA Men’s Player of the Year award courtesy of a superb season that saw him become World No.1 for the first time – overtaking 2018/19 Player of the Year and compatriot Mohamed ElShorbagy – and claim six titles, including the PSA World Championships. The man Farag beat in the final in Chicago - Tarek Momen – came second. Meanwhile, Raneem El Welily won the PSA Women’s Player of the Year award for the second time after a campaign that saw her win five titles and dethrone last year’s women’s Player of the Year, Nour El Sherbini, as World No.1. New Zealand’s Joelle King finished as runner-up for a second successive year. Farag and El Welily also took home the men’s and women’s PSA Spirit of Squash Awards. It was the third year in a row for El Welily, and the third time in four years for Farag. El Welily continued to dominate the awards night as she also won the PSA Women’s Shot of the Season Award, while her comeback from two games down against El Sherbini in the DPD Open final was named the PSA Women’s Match of the Season. The PSA Men’s Shot of the Season Award went to France’s World No.60 Baptiste Masotti, while Farag’s semi-final battle with New Zealand’s Paul Coll at last month’s Allam British Open was named the PSA Men’s Match of the Season.

World No.1s Raneem El Welily and Ali Farag were deservedly named Players of the Year (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

Egypt’s Nouran Gohar collected the PSA Women’s Young Player of the Year for the third time in four years two weeks after capturing the British Open crown. Her fellow Egyptian Youssef Ibrahim took the men’s honour after winning six titles throughout the season. The evening’s final award went to PSA Event Director Tim Garner, who was presented with the PSA Services to Squash award. Garner, a former World No.26, has been the mastermind behind the popular Canary Wharf Classic since the event began in 2004, while he also served as Tournament Director at the sport’s biggest tournament – the PSA World Championships – as well as the British Open and Manchester Open this season.

Source: PSA World Tour

Lobban & Pilley strike double gold as hosts Australia celebrate World Doubles clean sweep

Australia have historically had a lot of success in doubles. With all of their main rivals not making the trip to Gold Coast (for example pairs from New Zealand, Scotland, India, England etc.), they were strongly expected to dominate the WSF World Doubles Squash Championships and they certainly lived up to it, claiming eight medals across the three events at the Carrara Squash Centre. After winning the Commonwealth Games in 2018, cousins Cameron Pilley and Donna Lobban added another gold medal to their collection in the mixed doubles. They proved too strong against compatriots Ethan Eyles and Christine Nunn, winning 11-5, 11-8. Pilley then defended his world title with partner Ryan Cuskelly, winning the men's event over fellow Australians Zac Alexander and Rex Hedrick. Cameron Pilley plays with the Karakal T Edge 120 FF squash racket, available on My Squash. Nunn added to her silver medal in the mixed and Lobban to her gold, with the pair teaming to win gold in the women's doubles event. The experienced duo, who were partnering for the first time in this tournament, were pushed by fellow Australians Sarah Cardwell and Jessica Turnbull, winning 11-9 11-4. There was a heavy collision between Nunn and Cardwell which sent the latter to the floor, but she was able to resume the match. Colombian pair Andrés Herrera & Juan Camilo Vargas prevented an Aussie top 3 in all events, claiming third place in the men's.

Cousins Donna Lobban and Cameron Pilley (in the middle) won two gold medals at the World Doubles Championships (Photo credit: Squashinfo)

Source: SquashInfo

Kenya welcome WSF Squash Ambassadors

Kenya hosted the WSF Ambassadors last week, when three of the world’s leading squash players visited the country’s capital Nairobi for the World Squash Federation promotional initiative. The sport’s ultimate ambassador Nicol David, a former world No.1 and the record eight-time World Champion from Malaysia, was joined by fellow players Camille Serme, the world No.3 from France, and Borja Golan, Spain’s former world No.5, at Parklands Sports Club and the Nairobi Club for the eighth edition of the annual WSF initiative. Launched in 2011, the WSF international promotional initiative takes leading squash players, together with an international coach and referee - in that case Belgian national coach Ronny Vlassaks and international referee Marko Podgorsek, from Slovenia - into younger squash nations to help raise the sport’s profile – through clinics, exhibition matches, refereeing and coaching seminars, and media presentations. "I feel very lucky to have been part of this trip." said Serme. "The people in Kenya have been amazing hosts, and there is a lot of potential for squash. Keep pushing and working hard, and thank you for having us!"

Source: World Squash Federation

The WSF ambassadors visited Kenya last week (Photo credit: Camille Serme)

--- July World Rankings

While the top 15 remained completely unchanged - Raneem El Welily being World No.1 for a 8th consecutive month - England’s Millie Tomlinson has broken into the top 20 of the PSA Women’s World Rankings for the first time in her career. She began the season ranked at No.27 in the world, but has risen steadily over the past 10 months and reached two semi-finals throughout the campaign. The Duffield-based 27-year-old has risen a spot after eight-time World Champion Nicol David was removed from the rankings due to her retirement. Egypt’s Yathreb Adel (No.16), Hong Kong’s Joey Chan (No.17), Belgium’s Nele Gilis (No.18) and America’s Olivia Blatchford Clyne (No.19) also move up a place as a result. Top 15 was also unchanged in the men's rankings, and Egypt’s Ali Farag has seen out the season as the World No.1, enjoying his fifth successive month atop the World Ranking. France’s Gregoire Marche has risen two spots to a joint career-high ranking of No.16. The 29-year-old from Aix en Provence closed out his season by winning the 5R Montpellier Metropole Open last month. Runner-up in Montpellier, Willstrop moves up a spot from No.19 to take the Frenchman’s place. English duo Declan James and Daryl Selby drop to No.17 and No.19, respectively, while Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly closes out the top 20. 

Source: PSA World Tour

July PSA World rankings (Photo credits: PSA World Tour)

July squash hotspots

--- Before the World Junior Championships start in Malaysia on the 30th of July, one the main highlights of the month will be the Pan American Games in Peru (26th July-1st August), which will include no less than 7 events (men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, men's and women's team, and for the first time mixed doubles). Home hero Diego Elias will try to go one better than in 2015 in Toronto where he was silver medalist behind Miguel Angel Rodriguez - who had also won in 2011. Besides these two world 10 top players, the other star of the show should be Amanda Sobhy, who had done the treble - singles, doubles and team - four years ago.

Peruvian star Diego Elias (on the left) will play the Pan Am Games at home in a few weeks (Photo credit: squashplayer.co.uk)

As mentioned above, almost 200 players representing 30 nations will take part in the 2019 WSF Men's & Women's World Junior Individual Squash Championships in Kuala Lumpur. Both individual titles are likely to stay in Egypt, with world No.15 Hania El Hammamy expected to be top seed in the women's event and world No.29 Mostafa Asal the predicted favourite in the men's championship. After finishing as runner-up in 2017 and 2018, El Hammamy will be hoping for 'third time lucky', while 2018 champion Asal (see 1st of August 2018's blog) will be looking to become the fourth Egyptian since 2006 to win the men's title twice in a row.

Source: Squashinfo