What's been happening in the world of squash 31st of October to 6th of November

Karim Abdel Gawad is the new world champion

The world of squash was hit by a mini-earthquake last Friday, when 25 year-old Karim Abdel Gawad won the World Championship in Cairo. Of course, the Alexandria-born player had been on magnificent form since the beginning of the season, consequently reaching a career high ranking of 3 in the world on the 1^st of November. But not only had he never won a World Series event, his best result in the biggest tournament of the season was a third round in 2015. After a slow start (5 games in his two first rounds), Abdel Gawad completed a true masterpiece, overcoming three players he had never beaten before: Nick Matthew in the quarters, Mohamed El Shorbagy (still in search of a first world title) in the semis, after an epic battle which made the world number 1 break down physically, and eventually Ramy Ashour in the final. Abdel Gawad would certainly have liked to become world champion for the first time in different circumstances. But he was 2-1 up when his opponent retired, and The Artist’s injury may not have occurred if it weren't for Abdel Gawad’s resilience after quickly losing the first game (11-5). After the referee announced Ashour’s retirement, it took a while for Abdel Gawad to realize what he had achieved, before he was congratulated by his coaches Omar Abdel Aziz and Mohamed Abbas. He was obviously over the moon during the prize ceremony. “I feel very sorry for Ramy, he’s a great ambassador for our sport and I wish him a speedy recovery. It has been a very long week, I didn’t have a good start. I’m grateful to my team as I was able to get back on court today after my match yesterday. I need to thank my parents, my father, my mother, my sister and my fiancée, who support me always. The results I had this season are 50% my work, and 50% their effort.” He is the third Egyptian to become world champion - after Shabana and Ashour - and probably not the last one considering the home's country domination this year. Ashour's speech was obviously less joyful although he remained philosophical as usual. “Sometimes the universe works in a way you can't understand. Sometimes there are things I really can't control. I try to control as much as I can, and maybe that's not right. Maybe it is right. At the end of the day, it’s the way I am. Whatever happens in my life, I have to accept it. I’ve been through a lot, and every time I fall down I learn. I get wiser, but I really don’t want to get any wiser. I keep on learning the hard way. As long as I’m still breathing, I’ll just keep trying. It’s the thing that I feel so much happiness when I do.”   

Photo credit: squashsite

The previous days had not been short of drama: in the quarters, Fares Dessouky decided to walk off the court on match ball down in the third game against Ramy Ashour, because he felt the referee’s decisions were in favour of his opponent. This is an extremely rare and controversial situation, which led Dessouky to apologize on the social media the following day. Meanwhile, title holder Grégory Gaultier had to withdraw before his semi-finals clash against Ashour, because of a right ankle injury. “I am devastated, the Frenchman said. It’s been a bad 2016 year for me, with too many injuries which didn't allow me to perform as I wanted to in many events. It’s part of an athlete career and I can only accept it and move forward.” All injured in different degrees during this World Championship, El Shorbagy, Ashour and Gaultier are still due to take part in the Qatar Open, whose draw was published yesterday. The last World Series of the year starts on Sunday.

Photo credit: squashsite

The final of the women’s event ran in parallel was an all Egyptian affair between two players from the home club Wadi Degla. After being very close to going out against Nicol David the day before, Raneem El Welily delivered a top class performance to beat Nouran Gohar in four games.

***Breaking news: Grégory Gaultier has pulled out of the Qatar Open due to his ankle injury. 

And so they met again ...

Nick Matthew and James Willstrop have had one of the greatest rivalries in modern squash, which they have both talked about in length in their respective biographies. But the two Yorkshiremen have suffered from injuries lately, and had only met twice since the Commonwealth Games final in July 2014 in Glasgow. Even though Notthingham’s victory was already ensured when they stepped on court last night, their match was the highlight of the PSL fixture between Matthew’s new team and Pontefract - a club where Willstrop has trained all his life with his dad Malcolm. His win in three games - 15-3 11-5 11-6 - is his first one over his old rival for more than four years (he had lost their last 11 meetings). The pair has now met 56 times, Matthew being 44-12 up in the head-to-head. The man from Sheffield has had the upper hand for a few years, having lost only three times in their last 33 meetings (all being non PSA events). They have played each other in 18 finals, especially in the British Open in ’09, Matthew coming out on top, 12-10 in the fifth game after 122 minutes of play. But their most famous match is perhaps the Canary Wharf semi-finals in 2010, where Willstrop had to retire injured on match ball down after more than two hours of play, including a 38-minute third game! Astonishingly, Matthew was able to recover and beat Gregory Gaultier the following day in the final.

Photo credit: squashsite : www.squashplayer.co.uk

Although they are 33 and 36 years of age, Willstrop and Matthew’s careers are far from over. For the first time in almost three years, they were both featuring in the semi-finals of a World Series event - the US Open - a few weeks ago. In a recent interview for Squash Player, the world number 5 stated that “the two things on the horizon that really inspire (me) are the World Championship in 2017 in Manchester and the 2018 Commonwealth Games.”