Following Her Quarterfinal Win At El Gouna Squash Open, Nouran Gohar Had This To Say
By Muhammed Aladdin.
The 2019 El Gouna Squash Open, one of the most anticipated competitions in professional squash, returns in its eighth edition with participants from over 20 countries, competing over a total prize of USD 352,000. The tournament, which became part of the PSA World Series, took place between the 17th and the 26th of April.
The eighth day of El Gouna Squash Open saw Nouran Gohar take on Nour El Sherbiny in one of the most defining matches of the championship. Gohar managed to end it with a 3-2 victory, bringing a finale to her nine-match losing streak against El Sherbiny.
“I played with Nour more than once, and usually, she ends up winning. It is never easy to play against a three-time PSA World Series champion on home soil. Nour loves to play in Egypt; it gives her a lot of confidence.” Gohar said to Scoop Empire about her win again World No. 2 Nour El Sherbiny.
“In fact, it is more difficult playing against an Egyptian here at home, especially when you are friends. So, with all this in mind, I am really happy with today’s performance.” She went on.
The 21-year-old expected the match to be one of the toughest, but she had a plan and tried to follow it as much as possible, keeping her focus in the game, and that was the reason behind her win.
Gohar revealed to us that she was injured three weeks prior to El Gouna Squash Open, which made her skip a very important squash even in Holland. The World No. 7 made this tough choice in order to have enough time to recuperate before El Gouna.
“I had a very intense rehab, but thankfully, my team had my back. It was only three days before the championship that I was 100% fit. The credit goes to my team for managing to get me here in such a small amount of time.” Gohar said.
The well-deserved victory over El Sherbiny qualified her to the semifinal against France’s Camille Serme. The two played about five times before with Gohar winning three out of the five encounters, and so they were very close.
“My matches with Camille are never easy, each is almost an hour, so I am expecting it to be very physical tomorrow.” She said expressing her worries.
Wishing the final to be an all-Egyptian match on home soil, Gohar wished her opponent Raneem El Welily the best of luck against America’s Amanda Sobhy in their upcoming match.
In hindsight, Gohar, indeed, managed to dominate Serme on the ninth day of the tournament, thus qualifying to the finals. Her wish came true as well when El Welily won over Sobhy. Egyptians dominated the finals in both the men and women finals, with Gohar playing against the titleholder El Welily in the women’s competition and Ali Farag going against Karim Abdel Gawad.
However, in the final match, El Welily managed to get the best of Gohar and won 3-1 after the latter took an injury timeout.
WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss the rest of our interviews with Amr Mansi, Ranim El Welily, Ali Farag, and Tarek Momen.
