CHICAGO — Egyptian duo Nour El-Sherbini and Mostafa Asal have lifted the trophies at the PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family following respective triumphs over compatriots Hania El-Hammamy and Ali Farag.
The PSA World Championships is the most prestigious tournament in squash, with $1,313,000 in total player compensation split equally between the male and female athletes. El-Sherbini has now matched Nicol David’s incredible record of eight World Championship titles.
The 29-year-old marked her 10th successive World Championships final with an 11-5, 11-9, 4-11, 11-7 victory over El-Hammamy to ensure she has won all four of the World Championships held in the Windy City.
“It’s amazing, I never thought I would be winning eight,” said El-Sherbini after winning her 44th PSA title.
“Everyone was saying about Nicol’s record, and I never thought I was going to make it. It’s unbelievable, I can’t describe it, but I’ve been having a really tough season. I’m glad I won this title, it means a lot for my corner, my team and my parents.
“She [El-Hammamy] is still young and she definitely felt a lot of nerves playing in her first ever World Championship final. We deal with a lot of things and being in this position is hard. I had a little edge that I’ve been here before.”
“She hasn’t experienced this, she had an amazing win, but at the beginning you could see she was feeling it too much. Once she relaxed a little bit she came back and almost won the fourth as well. She’s amazing and I’m sure one day she is going to win this title more than once.”
Meanwhile, Asal put in a performance that matched power with guile as he stormed to an 11-7, 11-8, 11-3 victory to put his name into the history books without dropping a single game this week.
Asal was runner-up at this tournament last season, but dismantled four-time World Champion Farag to get his hands on the men’s trophy at the biggest tournament in professional squash.
The win means he now holds both the PSA World Championships and British Open titles as well as the World No.1 spot – a position he would have conceded to Farag had he lost.
“Emotionally, I feel out of this world,” said Asal following his 21st PSA title win.
“There have been a lot things happening this week mentally, so to regroup is unbelievable. To be World No.1 and the World Champion is amazing,” World No.1 added according to psasquashtour.com.
“I want to thank everyone who has supported me, but the man who has been behind me is my mentor, James Willstrop. My father told me after everything that had happened to come back to Egypt, but Jimbo has been having a lot of discussions and chats with me, and here I am, the World Champion.”
“Everyone who is successful throws away hate speech and only focuses on the positives.”
