CAIRO — World No.2 Nouran Gohar of Egypt has claimed her first-ever CIB PSA World Championships title after defeating defending champion Nour el-Sherbini of Egypt 3-1.
Gohar’s maiden success denied el-Sherbini the opportunity to equal Nicol David’s record of eight World Crowns, and the World No.2 ended a run of three successive defeats to the World No.1 in the World Championships final.
The pair had met very recently in the final of the El-Gouna International where Gohar came out on top, and it was Gohar who made an excellent start with a 6-2 lead before a blood injury sustained by the World No.2 halted play.
When both players returned, El-Sherbini drew level when she notched four points without reply. As Gohar got herself back into the game, play was paused again due to a blood injury from her hand.
The World No.2 got herself into position to have two game balls, converting at the first attempt to draw first blood.
However El-Sherbini restored parity as she began finding success with drop shots in both corners, while also looking more accurate at the back of the court.
Gohar was given a conduct stroke against her at the beginning of the third due to returning to court late. However ‘the Terminator’ was back in control, getting everything back El-Sherbini threw at her to regain her lead.
Mistakes from El-Sherbini’s racket and Gohar’s accuracy gave the World No.2 a great opportunity to seal the match, sealing the fourth game 11-5 to earn her first-ever World title.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been emotional like this before,” she said according to psaworldtour.com.
“Usually I show very little emotion but this means so much. I kept on saying that I don’t want stop until I’m World Champion and I can’t really believe it. [Nour El] Sherbini reached the final 10 times and that’s an unbelievable achievement for her. Beating her in the final of the World Championships is an amazing thing.
“I’m so speechless right now. All respect to her but I can’t really believe it.
“People around me, I’ve given them a hard time because I always want everything to be perfect.
“Two people that I miss the most today are my husband and my mum, two important people besides my father, and it’s because of him I’m playing this game and thank you for everything!”
Elsewhere, Diego Elias has become the first South American to win the CIB Men’s PSA World Championships after downing Mostafa Asal of Egypt in straight games.
Elias ousted the reigning champion Ali Farag in the semi finals to reach the final against Asal, creating history in the process as he earns his first World crown.
‘The Peruvian Puma’ becomes the first non-Egyptian player to win the PSA World Championships since Gregory Gaultier defeated Omar Mosaad in 2015.
Asal came out on top the last time the pair went head-to-head, which came at the Windy City Open in February, and the ‘Raging Bull’ was 5-3 ahead in the opening game, but Elias responded magnificently by taking eight of the next nine points to take the first 11-6.
World No.3 Asal was going short in the second as he tried to draw level, but Elias was equal to everything that was being thrown at him as he went two games up.
Asal, who held off a fightback from Paul Coll to advance to the final, and he looked to have got himself back into the contest when he had game ball, only to be saved superbly by Elias with some excellent retrievals.
In the tiebreak, Elias clinched the match as Asal found the tin, with the Peruvian etching his name into the history books.
“I just can’t believe it. It’s been a dream week since the start and I’m super happy having my whole team here and all the people who are supporting me back home,” he said afterwards.
“All the people who have been helping me with my squash and Jonathon [Power] was here at the start of the week. Also having Greg [Gaultier] has been a massive help for me the last few years – all of them made a big difference in my game and I can’t thank them enough. I also want to thank all my sponsors that support me all these years. I just can’t believe it.
“It’s going to huge, it’s going to be massive in Peru for all the people supporting me all these years. To be honest I don’t know how I feel right now, I haven’t processed it yet and I’m just very happy.”
