Egyptian aces battle for Women’s World title on home soil 
By ELLIE MAWSON – Squash Mad Correspondent

THE draws for the 2019-20 CIB PSA Women’s World Championship and the CIB Egyptian Squash Open PSA Platinum tournament have been announced, with some blockbuster fixtures in store at the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt.

The PSA Women’s World Championship, organised by Egyptian event company I-Events, is the most prestigious women’s squash tournament and will take place between October 24 and November 1, while the men’s Egyptian Squash Open will be held alongside it between October 25 and November 1.

Sixty four of the world’s leading female players will compete in Cairo for the coveted trophy, with the likes of Egyptian World No.1 Raneem El Welily, reigning World Champion Nour El Sherbini, French World No.3 Camille Serme and British Open champion Nouran Gohar all set to feature at the iconic Pyramids, which will host a World Championship for the first time since 2006.

World No.1 El Welily has been drawn against wildcard and compatriot Sana Ibrahim in round one and is featured on the same side of the draw as World No.4 Gohar and could potentially meet in the semi-finals.

The 2018 World Champion is also seeded on the same side of the draw as England’s No.1 Sarah-Jane Perry and 2018-19 World Championship runner-up Nour El Tayeb with the two set to meet in the quarter finals should the draw go to seeding. The two Egyptians have already met once this season at the China Squash Open, where El Tayeb got the better of the World No.1 in a thrilling final.

Reigning World Champion and World No.2 El Sherbini is seeded on the opposite side of the draw to El Welily and Gohar and will take on England’s Rachael Chadwick in round one. El Sherbini has withdrawn from this week’s Oracle NetSuite Open in San Francisco because of a knee injury.

El Sherbini claimed her third World Championship title at the 2018/19 PSA World Championships held inside Chicago’s Union Station when she defeated compatriot El Tayeb in the final.

The World No.2 has the likes of New Zealand’s World No.6 Joelle King and United States’ World No.8 Amanda Sobhy on her side of the draw as she looks to claim her fourth World Championship title, while she is predicted to meet World No.3 Serme in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, at the Egyptian Squash Open PSA Platinum event, World No.1 Ali Farag receives a bye into the second round where he will face compatriot and former World No.3 Omar Mosaad for a place in the last 16.

The reigning World Champion is seeded on the same side of the draw as World No.7 Mohamed Abouelghar, Germany’s World No.5 Simon Rosner and New Zealand’s World No.6 Paul Coll.

Situated at the opposite end of the draw is World No.3 Tarek Momen, who receives a bye into the second round where he will face Wales’ World No.12 Joel Makin.

On Momen’s side of the draw is former World No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad, who he could face in the semi-finals, along with Peru’s Diego Elias and Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez. 

CIB PSA Women’s World Championship (October 24-November 1).

First Round Draw:
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [WC] Sana Ibrahim (EGY)
[19] Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA) v Menna Hamed (EGY)
[30] Julianne Courtice (ENG) v Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG)
[Qualifier] v [11] Alison Waters (ENG)
[14] Salma Hany (EGY) v Rachel Arnold (MAS)
[21] Emily Whitlock (ENG) v Alexandra Fuller (RSA)
[26] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) v Lucy Turmel (ENG)
Melissa Alves (FRA) v [5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
[7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v Jemyca Aribado (PHI)
[25] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v Sarah Cardwell (AUS)
[32] Coline Aumard (FRA) v Danielle Letourneau (CAN)
Nada Abbas (EGY) [9] Tesni Evans (WAL)
[12] Victoria Lust (ENG) v Aifa Azman (MAS)
[27] Tinne Gilis (BEL) v Enora Villard (FRA)
[18] Nele Gilis (BEL) v Sunayna Kuruvilla (IND)
Low Wee Wern (MAS) v [4] Nouran Gohar (EGY)
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) v Salma Youssef (EGY)
[22] Millie Tomlinson (ENG) v Lee Ka Yi (HKG)17] Joey Chan (HKG) v Milnay Louw (RSA)
Lisa Aitken (SCO) v [16] Yathreb Adel (EGY)
[15] Hania El Hammamy (GY) v Jasmine Hutton (ENG)
[28] Donna Lobban (AUS) v Ineta Mackevica (LAT)
[31] Milou van der Heijden (NED) v Menna Nasser (EGY)
Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) v [8] Amanda Sobhy (USA)
[6] Joelle King (NZL) v Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG)
[20] Zeina Mickawy (EGY) v Emilia Soini (FIN)
[23] Nadine Shahin (EGY) v Cindy Merlo (SUI)
Olivia Fiechter (USA) v [10] Annie Au (HKG)
[13] Joshna Chinappa (IND) v Haley Mendez (USA)
[24] Mariam Metwally (EGY) v Ho Tze-Lok (HKG)
[29] Hollie Naughton (CAN) v Farida Mohamed (EGY)
Rachael Chadwick (ENG) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)

CIB Egyptian Squash Open (October 25-November 1) Draw:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) [Bye]
[9/16] Omar Mosaad (EGY) [Bye]
[17/32] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Vikram Malhotra (IND)
[17/32] Mazen Hesham (EGY) v Karim Ali Fathi (EGY)
[17/32] Max Lee (HKG) v Ivan Yuen (MAS)
[9/16] Daryl Selby (ENG) [Bye]
[17/32] Chris Simpson (ENG) v Edmon Lopez (ESP)
[6] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) [Bye]
[5] Paul Coll (NZL) [Bye]
[17/32] Lucas Serme (FRA) v Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY)
[9/16] Gregoire Marche (FRA) [Bye]
[17/32] Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP) v Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY)
[9/16] Saurav Ghosal (IND) [Bye]
[17/32] Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) v Mazen Gamal (EGY)
[9/16] Fares Dessouky (EGY) [Bye]
[4] Simon Rosner (GER) [Bye]
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) [Bye]
[17/32] Greg Lobban (SCO) v Karim El Hammamy (EGY)
[17/32] Leo Au (HKG) v Ramit Tandon (IND)
[17/32] Adrian Waller (ENG) v Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)
[17/32] George Parker (ENG) v Nathan Lake (ENG)
[9/16] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) [Bye]
[17/32] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v Alan Clyne (SCO)
[7] Diego Elias (PER) [Bye]
[8] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) [Bye]
[17/32] Borja Golan (ESP) v Baptiste Masotti (FRA)
[17/32] Raphael Kandra (GER) v [WC] Moustafa El Sirty (EGY)
[17/32] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) v [WC] Yehia Elnawsany (EGY)
[17/32] Cesar Salazar (MEX) v Todd Harrity (USA)
[9/16] Zahed Salem (EGY) [Bye]
[9/16] Joel Makin (WAL) [Bye]
[2] Tarek Momen (EGY) [Bye]

Report by ELLIE MAWSON (PSA). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.

Pictures courtesy of PSA