Birthday girl Nour El Sherbini wins 4th World Championship title

Main story: The incredible comeback of Nour El Sherbini

After being out of the tour for four months due to a knee injury, Nour El Sherbini made an incredible comeback in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The Egyptian clinched a fourth World Championship title at the expense of compatriot of Raneem El Welily, at only 24 years old.

Do you remember? In 2014, the World Championship in Qatar was the comeback tournament for Ramy Ashour after a few months out and the "Artist" went all the way, the final against Mohamed Elshorbagy being described as one the greatest matches in the history of the sport. Nour El Sherbini walked in the footsteps of her illustrious compatriot last week in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza, where a World Championship hadn't been held since 2006. The "Warrior Princess" hadn't played a competitive match since the PSA World Tour Finals in June due to a knee injury but she's been impressive throughout the week in Cairo, not dropping a game en route to the final. On the day she turned 24, El Sherbini started the match strong while Raneem El Welily - whom she met for the 3rd time in a World Championship decider - made a lot of unforced errors in the opening game. Like she did in the semis against Nouran Gohar, the World No.1 struck back in the second, but from there it was all about her opponent who was attacking all areas of the court to complete the win in 41 minutes. Not only she captured the biggest title in women’s squash, but El Sherbini also took home $61,000 in prize money and qualified for the season-ending PSA World Tour Finals, which will take place in June. “The last couple of months for me have been really hard,” she said after the match. "I didn’t know what I was going to do… but I took the risk because I wanted to play this tournament badly. I was getting better every match and I’m very grateful and happy to be standing here right now. I missed playing with all the top players and especially Raneem. She is closest to my heart and it’s very hard to play her mentally and emotionally, but we try to leave the emotions and focus on squash once we get inside the court." The Egyptian is only the fourth – and youngest – female player to win four World Championship trophies, and she'll have plenty of more opportunities to chase Nicol David's of eight titles if her body allows. "We are very happy to be playing in front of the Pyramids, it was always a dream of mine." she added before thanking the organizers and the main sponsor CIB. "Giving the women the chance to have a prize money bigger than the men’s is a big risk, and hopefully we deserved that and played matches that were worthy of that. All of the players are very grateful,” El Sherbini concluded.

The women's World Championship was played in front of the pyramids for the first time (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

The women’s World Championship final followed on from the men’s CIB Egyptian Squash Open, PSA Platinum event, where World No.4 Karim Abdel Gawad got the better of World No.1 Ali Farag in a repeat of the men’s 2016 Al Ahram Open final. Gawad became the first man in a decade to win a trophy in front of the Pyramids when he beat Farag in straight games three years ago, and he matched that 3-0 scoreline to continue his 100 per cent record at the iconic landmark. If we include the 2016 World Championship, the 2018 Black Ball Open and the 2018-2019 PSA World Tour Finals, Gawad has now won 5 consecutive tournaments in Cairo! “Playing Ali is always very tough for me, he is the World No.1,” said Gawad. “He’s always been my competitor since we were seven years old until now. I know how hard it is, we played in the final [in front of the Pyramids] in 2016 and now we’re playing again in the final here. He’s dealing with a lot of hard moments and he is just a champion to be on court with and he fights until the end with this amazing spirit – best of luck with him and his family (author's note: we are very sad to hear that Ali Farag's nephew passed away a few hours after the final). I talked a lot with my coaches, we put together different plans and winning in three means a lot to me in such an amazing venue."

Source: PSA World Tour

Before Nour El Sherbini was crowned World Champion, Karim Abdel Gawad had won the CIB Egyptian Open (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

Other squash news in October

Ali Farag and Nouran Gohar win the U.S. Open in Philadelphia

A few weeks before, Egyptian players had also dominated the U.S. Open, first Platinum event in 2019/20. "There's no one I hate more than Nouran Gohar in this room at this very moment," joked the men's winner Ali Farag during the prize ceremony, because Gohar came back from the brink in the final to beat his wife Nour El Tayeb. The 22-year old was 2-0 down and saved a match ball, before preventing the couple to achieve another double - after the one in 2017. Gohar had been impressive in the semis against Camille Serme but was nevertheless outplayed at the beginning by El Tayeb, who had also delivered a superb display to oust Raneem El Welily. But she was able to find the resources to turn things around and eventually prevail in the fifth game. “I can’t believe it,” said Gohar after the match. “It was so tough out there, I felt my legs burning and it was like I was doing court sprints with Nour out there in the first two games. I just tried to hang in there and I didn’t want the crowd to be upset about a bad final match. I was thinking ‘that’s the worst final ever’, but it turns out, and I hope, it was a good one." Thanks to her win, Nouran Gohar not only won her 2nd consecutive Platinum event - after the British Open in May - but also got back to the World No.2 position, which she had briefly occupied at the beginning of 2017. 

Ali Farag and Nouran Gohar won the U.S. Open a few weeks ago (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

The men's final wasn't as closely contested, although the scoreline in the the first two games (11-4, 11-7 in favor of Ali Farag) doesn't tell the whole story with a 14 and 17 minute duration, respectively. Farag was not affected by his wife's harsch loss a few minutes earlier, and his movement and fluidity on court were impressive as ever. After going 2-0 up he looked in complete control while his opponent was seemingly tired. Not only Elshorbagy had spent much more time on court in Philadelphia, he'd also won in San Francisco a few days before the U.S. Open. “To be winning not only a major, but the U.S. Open which is one of the most prestigious tournaments we have on the calendar, it feels amazing,” Farag said. "Obviously I’m very proud with how I played as well, Mohamed has had an unbelievable start to the season, to be unbeaten in 12 matches in a row, and I was one of the victims, to get the win today feels amazing.”

--- November World Rankings

As we mentioned earlier, Egypt’s Nouran Gohar has returned to World No.2 in the PSA Women’s World Rankings. After a loss of form and motivation that saw her drop as low as No.8 in February, the 22-year-old has returned to her best in recent months and has climbed up the rankings after winning the British Open and last month’s U.S. Open. Nour El Sherbini dropped to World No.4, her lowest since March 2016 but she will obviously go back up after winning the World Championship. Egypt’s Nour El Tayeb stays at No.3 while France’s Camille Serme drops to No.5. New Zealand’s Joelle King, England’s Sarah-Jane Perry, America’s Amanda Sobhy, Wales’ Tesni Evans and Hong Kong’s Annie Au complete the top 10. The most significant move in the top 20 is Rowan Elaraby rising 11 places to the 20th spot after reaching her first PSA Platinum quarter-final last month at the U.S. Open. England’s Adrian Waller has broken into the top 20 for the first time in his career to become the highest ranked Englishman on the men’s tour. His eighth PSA Tour title at the Life Time Chicago Open along with a third round finish at the U.S. Open, has helped him elevate seven places to sit at a career-high World No.17 ranking. U.S. Open champion Ali Farag extends his lead over runner-up Mohamed ElShorbagy at the top of the World Rankings, while Tarek Momen (No.3), Karim Abdel Gawad (No.4) and New Zealand’s Paul Coll complete the top five. The rest of the top 10 is also unchanged. Fares Dessouky rises a spot to No.13, while France’s Gregoire Marche moves up two spots to a career-high No.14 ranking.

Source: PSA World Tour

November PSA rankings (Photo credits: PSA World Tour)

--- 2019 Hong Kong Open postponed due to safety concerns

Due to the current situation in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Squash has decided, after careful consideration and extensive discussions with the key stakeholders involved, to postpone the 2019 Everbright Sun Hung Kai Hong Kong Squash Open. The event was due to be played on 2-8 December 2019 at the Hong Kong Squash Centre (2-6 Dec) and the West Kowloon Cultural District (7-8 Dec), but will now be postponed to next year. The Professional Squash Association and Hong Kong Squash are in active discussions on identifying the best timing to schedule the event in 2020.

Source: PSA World Tour

November squash hotspots

--- Reigning PSA Men’s World Champion Ali Farag has been handed a banana skin fixture against Germany’s Raphael Kandra as the World No.1 kickstarts his title defence at the 2019-20 edition of the most prestigious tournament on the men’s tour next Friday, which this season takes place at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar between November 8-15. Farag defeated World No.3 Tarek Momen at Chicago’s Union Station in February to capture the 2019/20 World Championship title. The 27-year-old Egyptian will be the man to beat in Doha, alongside biggest rival Mohamed Elshorbay - who opted not to play the CIB Egyptian Open in order to arrive in Qatar as ready as possible. Farag is seeded to play World No.7 Diego Elias in the quarters and then World No.4 Karim Abdel Gawad - who beat him a few days ago in Cairo. In the other side of the draw, ElShorbagy will also look to win a second World Championship crown. He will begin his campaign against fellow Egyptian Karim El Hammamy, while tricky fixtures against the likes of India’s Saurav Ghosal, World No.8 Mohamed Abouelghar and Tarek Momen could await the 28-year-old.

After losing to Ramy Ashour in an extraordinary World Championship final in 2014, Mohamed Elshorbagy (on the left) will be hoping to all the way in Qatar (Photo credit: World Squash)

A few days later, some of the top players will be flying to England for the Channel VAS Championships at St. George’s Hill (November 19-24, Gold), where 2017 winner Mohamed ElShorbagy is set to face Karim Abdel Gawad in a mouthwatering title decider. Their fellow Egyptians Mohamed Abouelghar and Marwan ElShorbagy also feature in the draw. The World No.2 has been drawn to meet Peru’s Diego Elias in the semi finals, while Gawad is seeded to meet 2016 winner Paul Coll in the bottom half of the draw. The Kiwi caused a shock when he rose through qualifying to take the title in 2016. There are seven Englishmen in the event - Daryl Selby, Declan James, Tom Richards, George Parker, Chris Simpson, Richie Fallows and the tournament’s wildcard, Joe Lee, a former World No.29 who is set to make his first PSA appearance since May 2017.

Source: PSA World Tour