Mohamed ElShorbagy tells his fans: The Beast will bite back after Qatar shock
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

Mohamed ElShorbagy has vowed to bounce back after his shock defeat to fellow Egyptian Youssef Ibrahim in the Qatar Classic.

Writing a message to his fans on Facebook, the 29-year-old ElShorbagy, known as The Beast, pledged to use the pain of this stunning result to drive him on to greater heights in the future.

He posted his remarks alongside a picture of himself next to fellow world champions Nick Matthew and Gregory Gaultier, and thanked the two squash legends for teaching him him so many valuable lessons during the early years of his career.

The Bristol-based ElShorbagy wrote: “These two greats of the game have taught me almost everything I know about the game by being their rival from when I was 18 years old.

“Their consistency was unmatchable and one of the many lessons they taught me and probably the most important one was how to deal with hard losses by coming back even more hungry, stronger and a better version of themselves.

“I went hard at them from when I was a kid and for that I earned their respect from a young age. Yesterday Youssef completely earned my respect for the way he played and fought.

“The Beast can lose few battles during the season but when it comes to dealing with me during a whole season, year after year I am going to show you how brutal it is to go to war with me because I can go down for few days during a season but my consistency prevails at the end and that’s what I showed for the last 10 years.

“The Beast will have this match in his head in every single training session for the next few months and I am not going anywhere.

“As Nick told me before he retired, ‘We taught you how the sport should be played and now it’s your time to do the same’.”

ElShorbagy won the first tournament when the PSA World Tour resumed after lockdown in Manchester, beating Karim Abdel Gawad in the final. He had also won the last event before shutdown, the St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic, overcoming Ali Farag in an epic battle.

It is unclear when ElShorbagy will be back in tournament action but he has sent out a loud, clear message that he will be keen to put this result behind him and do everything possible to return at the top of his game.