Egyptians dominate squash scene
dubai — The third edition of the PSA Dubai World Series Finals, starting on Tuesday, will have a new venue but as usual the Egyptians continue their domination with 10 of the 16 top players – men and women – playing under the Egypt flag.
“It could have been 11 of us but my brother Marwan El Shorbagy pulled out,” the defending champion Mohamed El Shorbagy informed Khaleej Times while talking about the Egyptian domination.
“We’ve all been aiming to get to Dubai, and are really happy to be here. We are looking forward to lots of exciting matches, every match is the standard of a World Series final so it will be a great week,” he added
Only the eight top-ranked players from the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Road to Dubai Standings have earned a place at the prestigious tournament, which offers a $160,000 prize pool for both men and women. The annual event will be held at the Emirates Golf Club (EGC) from June 5-9.
“We are pleased to be welcoming the world’s best squash players back to Dubai for the third time. As many of you know, in Dubai we have over 450 major sporting events taking place here each and every year, and this is one of the top events we host. We hope you have a wonderful week,” said Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, at the press conference held on Monday at the EGC.
“Dubai is one of the most exciting cities and we are looking forward to an exciting week,” said Ziad Al Turki, the PSA Chairman.
“We have had an incredible season, with many firsts –we had the first couple win a tournament together (Nour El Tayeb and Ali Farag at the US Open), the first joint World Championships with equal prize money, the first German and the first Colombian to win a World Series event, and the first women’s professional sporting event in Saudi Arabia,” he added.
The line-up at the EGC includes six players, who have enjoyed the number one ranking in the world. Both (men’s and women’s) current world champions and five former world champions are vying for top honours.
The defending champion Laura Massaro is keen to score a hat trick of women’s title in Dubai.
“I have good memories of Dubai as you always do when you win and it’s good to be going back there,” the two-time World Series Finals champion told was quoted by the PSA WorldTour website.
Four matches will be played in each afternoon session during the group stage from June 5-9. Group stage matches will take place at 3:00pm, 3:45pm, 4:30pm and 5:15pm (Group B) and 8:00pm, 8:45pm, 9:30pm and 10:15pm (Group A) between June 5-7 with the semi-finals due to take place from 8:00pm on June 8. The finals will commence at 8:00pm local time on June 9.
The men’s line-up includes current world number one and world champion Mohamed ElShorbagy of Egypt, along with three other former world number ones; England’s Nick Matthew, 2016 Dubai champion Gregory Gaultier of France, and Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad. Egypt’s Ali Farag and Tarek Momen, Germany’s Simon Rosner and Colombia’s Miguel Angel Rodriguez complete the eight.
The women’s line-up is equally impressive and features current world number one and world champion Nour El Sherbini of Egypt. The field includes two former world number ones and former world champions, Egypt’s Raneem El Welily and England’s defending champion Laura Massaro. Egypt’s Nour El Tayeb and Nouran Gohar, England’s SarahJane Perry, New Zealand’s Joelle King and France’s Camille Serme complete the line-up.