TAURANGA, New Zealand. – Egypt has won their third consecutive WSF Men’s World Squash Team Championship after a thrilling contest with England in the final in Tauranga.
That win for Egypt, a high-quality affair clinched by World No.4 Mostafa Asal and World No.1 Ali Farag, was also their third consecutive victory over England in a final, and the fifth final in a row to feature two of the modern game’s great rivals.
Going into his match with World No.8 Marwan el-Shorbagy, questions had been raised about the fitness of 22-year-old Asal, with the former World No.1 a surprise omission from the semi-final victory over Switzerland.
Though, those questions were firmly answered by a brilliantly controlled performance from Asal.
In a competitive and thoroughly entertaining contest, ‘The Raging Bull’ proved too strong for El-Shorbagy, who despite putting in an excellent performance could not match the pace, power and accuracy of an inspired Asal, with the Egyptian clinching a trio of 11-9 wins to take the match 3-0 in 49 minutes.
This left Marwan’s brother, Mohamed, needing a win over old rival and World No.1 Ali Farag to keep England in the tie.
In a pulsating battle, the 30th between the two since the 2010 British Junior Open, the Beast’ took the lead with a hard-fought 11-8 win.
Farag responded with a dominant 11-2 victory in game two, only for the resurgent El-Shorbagy to regain the lead when he took a fiercely contested third game 11-7.
Farag, winner of six of the last seven contests between the two, came back once again in a stop-start fourth game to force El-Shorbagy into a fifth game.
In a tense battle, which neither man deserved to lose, it was Farag who was able to maintain his concentration, with the 31-year-old controlling the court masterfully as he got his side over the line with an 11-7 win to close out a classic 70-minute encounter.
After his team were presented with their medals by WSF Vice President and four-time World Champion Dame Susan Devoy and 1986 World Champion Ross Norman, Egypt coach Hesham el-Attar said: “It’s absolutely amazing! There was a lot of tension; I know it was slightly expected that we had to deliver, but we wanted it badly.
“That expectation creates extra pressure. We had to distract ourselves with daily routine and not think too far ahead. One hour at a time.”
“As everyone knows, anything can happen and as we saw in the matches it was very tense and rallies were very close.
“Ali felt that responsibility and at one point wasn’t very happy with his game. He had to make some changes and then went back, and his retrieving was amazing.
“It’s a wonderful feeling and it hasn’t quite sunk in yet,” El-Attar added according to psaworldtour.
Elsewhere, the J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions – one of squash’s most prestigious events – will once again serve as the opening Platinum event for 2024 when the world’s best players line up at New York’s iconic Grand Central Terminal between January 17-25.
Egyptian World Champions Ali Farag and Nour el-Sherbini have been named as the No.1 seeds for the 2024 edition, which will take place across five different venues. Early rounds will be split between the Nicol Squash Club, New York Athletic Club, River Club of New York, Harvard Club of New York, as well as Grand Central Terminal’s famous Vanderbilt Hall, which will host eight full days of glass court play.
Men’s World No.1 Farag was unable to feature in last year’s event but will return as the top seed next month, looking to claim a third Platinum event of the 2023/24 season and his third title in New York. Farag has reached the final in every event that he has played this season but has fallen to Paul Coll in the last two Platinum event finals, a run that Farag will be hoping to end as the pair are seeded to meet in the semi-finals.
New Zealand’s Coll has been in great form so far this season, claiming three titles from four finals. These include two Platinum events as well as an emotional win on home soil at the Lucino Vanities New Zealand Men’s Open last week. Coll will be full of confidence heading into the New Year and will be determined to win a third consecutive title in New York and lift his first Tournament of Champions trophy.
Defending champion Diego Elias put on a masterful performance in last year’s J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions, defeating Paul Coll and Marwan el-Shorbagy in the semi-finals and final, respectively, in emphatic fashion to claim a third Platinum title. Since then, the Peruvian has achieved the dream of becoming World No.1 and will be hoping to recreate the form that took him there as he looks to defend his crown under the chandeliers in Grand Central.
Plenty of danger lurks behind the top three seeds as the chasing pack will be determined to score upsets and take home silverware, which has been hard to come by so far this season for those outside of the main contenders.
The Egyptian trio of Mostafa Asal, Mazen Hesham and Tarek Momen are all capable of scoring upsets on their day and all possess different qualities that can trouble the top three.
England brothers Mohamed and Marwan el-Shorbagy are the other players inside the top eight seeds and need no introduction. Mohamed holds good memories of the ‘ToC’, having claimed the title three times in his career. A fourth ‘ToC’ title will see him finally bring up 50 PSA event wins.
His younger brother Marwan has found a new lease of life this season on the PSA World Tour and will be drawing on that form to go one stop further than last year and claim the victory.
Four-time champion El-Sherbini returns to New York for the 10th time as she looks to claim yet another Platinum title and further extend her lead as the World No.1. ElSherbini battled past Hania el-Hammamy in last year’s semi-final before Nouran Gohar was forced to withdraw after the first game of the final.
