By Muhammed Aladdin
On the 23rd of February, the PSA World Squash Championships kicked off in Chicago, Illinois. The tournament started with twenty leading players from all the corners of the world. However, with match after match, Egyptian squash players dominated the field, and now that the event is coming to an end, eight of them made it to the quarterfinals.
With talent, perseverance, and passion, Egyptian players in both events, men’s and women’s, have proved their worth to the world.
On Wednesday, World Number 2 Ali Farag in a 3-0 win defeated fellow Egyptian Mazen Hesham to qualify for the quarterfinals and join World Number 1 Mohamed El Shorbagy. This will also include Tarek Momen and Marwan El Shorbagy, who already secured their places in the final battle for the PSA World Cup.
Early on in Farag’s match against Hesham, the world’s second best was cornered. However, with perseverance, he managed to prevail over the latter. He had this to say following the match, “It’s always tough against Mazen. He beat me comfortably last week back home, so I knew I was in for a tough one.” With a sigh of relief, he continued on, “I was lucky that he wasn’t firing early on, and grateful to be able to come back in third.”
Mohamed El Shorbagy secured his spot on the quarterfinal list by defeating Leo Au of Hong Kong 3-0 on Tuesday. On the other hand, Tarek Momenbeatd Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly 3-1, while El Shorbagy’s brother, Marwan, made it to the shortlist with a 3-2 victory over countryman Mohamed Abouelghar.
On the other side, the women’s draw saw World Number 2 Nour El Sherbiny the last to join the quarterfinal roaster. After beating Amanda Sobhy of the USA 3-2, she joined Nouran Gohar who secured a spot by defeating England’s Victoria Lust 3-2. While, World Number 3 Nour El Tayeb claimed a 3-0 victory over the French Melissa Alves. Moreover, World Number 1, and title holder, Raneem El Welily made it after a 3-0 win over Alison Waters of England.
With Ali Farag and Nour El Tayeb making it to the quarterfinals, this year’s squash championship became the first one to have a married couple participating.
So much is at stake, as the prize for the 2019 World Cup is USD 1 million, but it seems that Egypt’s squash prodigies have once again secured the top rankings for their home country, proving that when it comes to squash, we rule.