CIB SquashTeam

CIB Ali Farag heads up an unchanged top 20 after the PSA Men’s World Rankings for September were released today.  Farag, the 27-year-old from Cairo, has now held onto the World No.1 spot for a seventh successive month, while Mohamed ElShorbagy (No.2), CIB The Mome nator  Tarek Momen (No.3), CIB BFA Karim Abdel Gawad (No.4) complete the  Egyptian Squash at the top! In the top 15, we find five more Egyptians, CIB The Bullet Mohamed Abouelghar (No.7), newest CIB The Controller Marwan ElShorbagy at No.11, Hammer of Thor Omar Mosaad (No.13), Zahed Salem (No.14) and Fearless Fares Dessouky (No.15).

The Enigmatic Butterfly Raneem El Welily has stayed at World No.1 for a 10th successive month after the PSA Women’s World Rankings for September were released today. El Welily leads an unchanged top 20, while Nour El Sherbini (No.2), CIB Nouran Gohar (No.4) and CIB Nour El Tayeb complete the top five. CIB “Glamour Girl” Salma Hany is still No.14, while newly crowned World Junior Champion Hania El Hammamy is rounding out the top 15. The rest of the top 20 contains Yathreb Adel (No.16) and Zeina Mickawy (No.20)

Egypt’s World No.4 Nouran Gohar has been named the women’s PSA Player of the Month for May.

Gohar, then World No.7, put her name into the history books with a sensational dismantling of France’s Camille Serme as she powered to an 11-3, 11-8, 11-3 victory in just 30 minutes.

The 21-year-old Egyptian also defeated World No.1 CIB Raneem El Welily in the quarter finals and then World No.3 CIB Nour El Tayeb in the semi-finals en route to lifting the prestigious title.

Gohar came runner-up to World No.2 Nour El Sherbini in the final of the British Open back in 2016, but ensured that she went one step further this year as she completed a comfortable victory over 2015 Serme to lift her PSA World Tour Platinum title since the Hong Kong Open in August 2016.

The win also sees No.7 seed Gohar become the lowest seed in the modern era to win the women’s event.

Her win at the British Open also saw the 21-year-old Egyptian jump up the women’s World Rankings in June as she now sits at No.4.

Egyptian Women’s Top Ten

CIB Raneem El Welily, and Nour El Sherbini stay at No.1 & No.2, respectively, for a seventh successive month, while CIB Nouran Gohar’s title-winning exploits in Hull British Open a week ago have seen her move up three places to No.4, which is the 21-year-old’s highest ranking since March 2017. CIB Nour El Tayeb completes the top five after dropping two places, while New Zealand’s Joelle King falls out of the top five to No.6. CIB Hania El Hammamy (No.15) are all on the rise, with newest CIB addition Salma Hany staying at No.14 while  Yathreb Adel drops a spot to No.17.

Egyptian Men’s Top Ten

CIB Mohamed Abouelghar has moved up two spots to a career-high No.7 ranking, thanks to his quarter-finals of the British Open last week .

CIB World Champion Ali Farag stays at World No.1 for a fourth month in a row, but the gap between him and World No.2 Mohamed ElShorbagy has been cut to 475 points after the latter beat the former in the British Open final. 

CIB Tarek Momen and CIB Karim Abdel Gawad make it an all-Egyptian top four for a second successive month. Marwan ElShorbagy moves up 10 places to No.11 following a month in which he won the Wimbledon Open. He sits ahead of compatriot Omar Mosaad (No.12), Zahed Salem (No.14) and Fares Dessouky, who moves up three places to No.15 - his highest ranking since March 2018.

A sad month for Squash, Egyptian Squash and CIBSquashTeam as The Artist Ramy Ashour retires from PSA Tour.

A few years ago, I was asked what I thought about Ramy. This is what I replied... “Ramy is “the Artist by essence”. Unpredictable. With Flair. With Panache. With Brio. With his demons. His doubts. His fears. His pain. His genius. He’s is one of a kind and I doubt there ever be another one like him. Squash is as natural to him as breathing or walking. He does those three actions with the same instinct. And when the devils in his head leave him in peace, he is Pure Talent. “

A little speech he gave after his last HK victory... 

British Open - Tarek Forfeit

Egypt’s World No.3 Tarek Momen has withdrawn from this month’s Allam British Open due to a hamstring injury.

“I’m disappointed to miss out on the Allam British Open this year,” said World No.3 Momen. “I’ve been dealing with a hamstring issue for the past two months. Taking painkillers has helped me through most of my matches but the pain is not going away.

“Also, in the two weeks leading up to the British Open we’ll be observing Ramadan so I can’t risk putting my body and this injury through rigorous training while dehydrated. That’s why I’ve decided to take a much needed break to fix this issue and get the right treatment before it turns into something more serious.

“I’m looking forward to playing the season ending CIB World Tour Finals in Cairo in June, hopefully by then I’ll be fully recovered and best of luck to all players in Hull.”

Ali Farag & Raneem El Welily take Gouna...

A bit of an anti climax for the finals as both finalists were injured - CIB Nouran Gohar & Karim Abdel Gawad - but it was a beautiful tournament for both Ali and Raneem. Both having had some very heavy schedule, third tournament crown for Raneem in a row (CIB BlackBall, DPD Eindhoven, Gouna), three out of four for Ali (Worlds, Grasshopper - quarters, DPD, Gouna), both digging in very deep mentally and physically to overcome extremely high competition.

The prestigious PSA World Tour Finals will be held in Egypt for the first time after an agreement was reached today by the PSA and title sponsors CIB to bring the world’s leading squash players to the Wadi Degla Club in Cairo between June 8-13 for the 2018/19 edition of the season-ending tournament.

Featuring the world’s top eight male and female players, the CIB PSA World Tour Finals will act as the season finale to the 2018/19 PSA World Tour campaign and has been successfully staged in Dubai over the past three seasons at venues such as the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Opera and Emirates Golf Club.

The CIB PSA World Tour Finals will be the third major professional squash tournament to be held at the Wadi Degla Club after it hosted the 2016 PSA Men’s World Championships and the 2014 PSA Women’s World Championships.

"The PSA World Tour Finals always provides a fitting climax to the PSA World Tour season and we are excited to be staging this season’s tournament in Cairo," said PSA Chairman and A. A. Turki Group of Companies (ATCO) Chairman Ziad Al-Turki.

"With a number of the sport’s highest-ranking players hailing from Egypt, squash already has significant presence and popularity in the country, and we hope to build on that by holding the World Tour Finals there.

"I would like to thank both the Wadi Degla Club and CIB for their support in staging this event, and I look forward to watching the action unfold in June."

CIB Chief Executive and Board Member, Hussein Abaza, said: "We are delighted to sponsor the PSA World Tour Finals and remain committed to supporting world-class squash in Egypt. We have been involved in a number of major tournaments in the region already this season, while we will also serve as title sponsor for the PSA Women's World Championships, which will bring the world's best back to the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the most iconic venues in sporting history.

"Our sponsorship of the PSA World Tour Finals will see us build on a successful partnership with PSA, and I for one cannot wait to see some of the greatest athletes in world sport take to the court in Cairo in June."

Wadi Degla Squash Director, Karim Darwish, said: "We are excited to be bringing the PSA World Tour finals to Egypt for the first time in the tournament’s history, and I believe that the Wadi Degla Club will provide the perfect venue for squash’s season finale.

"The Wadi Degla Club is no stranger to hosting the world’s biggest squash tournaments and I look forward to welcoming players to Cairo on June 8th for what promises to be a thrilling week. I would also like to thank CIB for their support and look forward to working with both them and PSA in the coming months."

The six-day event will bring together the greatest squash talents on the PSA World Tour, with a total prize purse of $320,000 split equally between the men’s and women’s events thanks to the generosity of sponsors CIB, ATCO, and also the Wadi Degla Club. Players will be split into two groups of four and will play round-robin best-of-three matches in the group stages, with the top two from each group progressing to the knockout semi-finals and beyond.

World No.1 Ali Farag tops the men’s leaderboard and has already qualified after winning the PSA World Championships, J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions and the Qatar Classic this season. He sits ahead of compatriot Mohamed ElShorbagy, whose wins at the U.S. Open and Hong Kong Open have seen him also qualify.

Karim Abdel Gawad is the other player to have already earned his place in Cairo after triumphing in December’s Black Ball Open. The other players in the top eight of the men’s leaderboard are CIB Player Tarek Momen, Germany’s Simon Rösner, New Zealand’s Paul Coll, Peru’s Diego Elias and CIB  Mohamed Abouelghar. 

World No.1 Raneem El Welily heads up the women’s leaderboard and has qualified for Cairo courtesy of her title win in October’s U.S. Open. She is followed by World No.2 Nour El Sherbini, who won both the PSA World Championship and the Tournament of Champions.

New Zealand’s Joelle King is the other automatic qualifier after lifting her maiden Platinum title at the Hong Kong Open in November.

The ladies had two major events in March, the Worlds in Chicago like the Men, and also the BlackBall Open, a huge success as the Men event was in December – also sponsored by CIB…

EL HAMMAMY

In the Worlds, she had the bad luck to play Raneem El Welily in round 2, she lost 3/0, but she managed to have the biggest upset of the Blackball as she ousted hot Favourite Nour El Tayeb in 32m, 12/10, 12/10, 11/4!  

She then bowed to Nouran Gohar in the quarters, but still took a game from the Wadi Degla player, a good battle in 50m, 3/1

HANY

Glamour Salma, the newest addition to the CIBSquash Family won’t like to remember the 2019 worlds.. Recovering from a niggle, she was not as fit as she would have liked and lost earlier than planned against French Melissa Alves in 4 in Round 2. Back in Cairo, she beat dangerous Nele Gilis in Round 1, only to lose to a very focused Nouran Gohar 3/0. Much more to come from the Glamour Egyptian for sure…

GOHAR

A good Worlds, wheezing through Mena Hamed in 20m, Fiona Moverly in 27m, and Vicky Lust in 36! In the quarters she was facing Raneem who she beat in the National Semis a few days prior to that! The World number 1 didn’t make the same error this time and never let Nouran take too much confidence, 11-4, 6-11, 11-4, 11-2 (37m).

A few days later, in Blackball, Nouran met with Raneem again in the Semis, not before beating Salma Hany in 3 (31m), Hania in 50m, 3/1. The semi between Nouran and Raneem was a seesaw of highly entertaining squash, ending by the toss of a coin, 15/13 in the 5th!

EL TAYEB

March 2019 will stay in Nour’s mind I feel, as she came so close to clinching the World title. What an event she had! Her first four matches never reached the 30m mark – Rachel Arnold, Zeina Mickaway, Melissa Alves, Annie Au. In the semis, she was facing Raneem, the match was superb, and Nour clinched it 13/11 in the 5th, making her reach her first ever World final against Nour El Sherbini. Another superb match, where the observers commented that had she taken the 4th – that she lost 15-13 – Sherbini might have run out of gas in the 5th, but we will never know…

The follow up of that match was a terribly bad BlackBall event, bless Nour, she didn’t seem that keen to be on court, and Hania just did the perfect job, believing in herself and pushing out the World Vice Champion out of the Cairo event in Nour’s first round.

But let’s not forget how many times some of the World Title holders fell in the final before they got the Graal! Raneem for a start only got her title on her third attempt, and don’t start me on Shorbagy or Gaultier!!! So, this is only the beginning for Mrs El Tayeb….

RANEEM

The Wadi Degla star world number 1 won’t like to remember that last edition of the Worlds, as she bowed on the cruellest way, as we just seen, 15/13 in the 5th in the semis against El Tayeb, only to reach the BlackBall final in exactly the same way against Nouran!

A pretty comfortable performance from Raneem all the way through, 3/0 against Rowan El Araby – a tough second game though – 3/0 against Laura Massaro – she’ll be very happy with that – and a gigantic encounter with Nouran, as I just mentioned, clinched 15/13 in the 5th. The final was a very strange match as the report says, with Nour El Sherbini managing to reach the final of the event – had she been playing in any other country, I feel she would have lost in the quarters against Camille Serme – but unable to truly get her A game against the World number 1, courtesy of a very focused and nearly calm Enigma…

Gouna coming up...

Again a very busy period for the CIB Team! We had the Worlds in Chicago for all of them, then Canada Cup for Abouelghar, Canary Wharf for Tarek, while the girls were in BlackBall, Salma Hany (the newest CIBSquashTeam addition), Hania, Nour ET and of course Raneem, to finally end March with Grasshopper: Karim AG, Tarek, Abou and Ali.   Let’s start with the Men

Rankings for April 2019

ABOUELGHAR

He had a pretty heavy for the legs Worlds in Chicago, having three five setters in the row, first Declan James, then Chris Simpson, finally bowing to Tarek (they seem to only play each other this season) in round three. He went on to the Canada Cup where he lost in three in the semis against Paul Coll but had a great Grasshopper!

He managed to oust home favourite Nicky Mueller in 3 close games in round two, followed by the best win of his career, taking out world number 1 and world champion Ali Farag in 4 games, 11/9 in the 4th. 

But the intensity was mentally probably a bit too much for him and he bowed to Tarek in the semis, rather sharply but still overall very happy with his tournament!

GAWAD

Karim didn’t have a great Worlds, that’s the very least we can say as he lost in round one against his compatriot Youssef Soliman in an uncharacteristic  Baby Face Assassin five setter as for once, he was up 2/0 to lose 11/9 in the 5th !

He had a so so Grasshopper, five games against Max Lee, then a good three games against Simon Rosner, but not able to overcome Mohamed ElShorbagy, a close 3/1 in the semis.

MOMEN

A superb March for Tarek, for sure as he managed to beat former world number 1 Mohamed El Shorbagy twice in two consecutive events!

The Worlds were a superb event for Tarek, although he didn’t manage to win them, he is the World Vice Champion as the French say, and if somebody told him 2 years ago when he nearly stopped the Tour, that he would beat Shorbagy and reach the worlds’ final, he probably would have shrug his shoulders… He started slowly, taking 4 games to beat Todd Harrity and Tom Richards, then Abou as we already seen it, a five setter. The strangest match was probably the quarters, with Marwan Shorbagy offering very little resistance to Tarek’s confident game, 3-0 in 33m! Next round the ‘other’ Shorbagy awaited, and that was a match and a half, with Tarek taking his first victory upon Mohamed since 2012, 11/8 in the 5th, three minute short of 90m. Tarek needed that third desperately against Ali in the final, he didn’t get it, but still fought 80m to finally bow in 4…

“Pour en remettre une couche », as the French say, « just to make sure, let’s put another coat on it”, Tarek managed to beat Mohamed a few days later in Canary Wharf, in the semis, only in 4 games that time, but couldn’t fight against Paul Coll as he was poorly and couldn’t really defend his chances physically. In Grasshopper, Mohamed took his revenge, finally, in the final, taking the only title he didn’t have yet, 3 disputed games…

But overall, a bleeping good month March was for the Momenator….

FARAG

Well, one thing is sure, Ali Farag will remember March 2019. The month he became world number 1, and two days later, world champion…

Looking at his draw, it was not an easy path, for sure. But it was like all was arranged in the Squash Farag Heavens for him to win… First, Daryl Selby. Their last match in ToC had been a huge battle, 15-13, 12-10, 13-11, but this time, Daryl just never showed up, 11-2, 11-5, 11-4 in 30m. He swept Mostafa Asal away 11-1, 11-4, 11-2 (26m), bit the same for Maverik Mazen Hesham, 11-4, 11-4, 11-9 (36m).

He got a bit more resistance from Paul Coll but managed to break him down in the 4th, 11-8, 11-7, 4-11, 11-1 (57m), ate away Simon Rosner in the quarters with one bite, 11-2, 11-9, 11-3 (46m), while Tarek Momen was ousting Shorbagy in a huge match and his first victory against Mohamed for years in nearly 90m. In the final, Tarek needed the third, but it’s Ali that clinched it, and the title a game later, 11-5, 11-13, 13-11, 11-3 (79m)

Grasshopper was not going to be a great event though - not exactly surprising - as he lost against a very strong Abou in the quarters... But still, a March to be remembered for sure...

The World No.3 has had an interesting March already, making the finals of the PSA World Championships and the Citigold Wealth Management Canary Wharf Classic. 

In the process, he ended a seven year winless streak against the former World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy by producing back-to-back semi-final wins.

Momen overcame ElShorbagy in a high-octane four-game encounter inside London’s East Wintergarden, before falling to New Zealand’s Paul Coll in the title decider as he narrowly missed out on the Canary Wharf Classic title for a second year running.

Now, after a week's recovery back home in Cairo, 'The Momentor' says he is ready for the Grasshopper Cup, where he will meet the winner of the Mathieu Castagnet and Saurav Ghoshal first round clash next Thursday.

“In Canary Wharf I had another brutal semi-final with Mohamed [ElShorbagy] and there is no way that is not going to have an effect in the final,” Momen revealed.

“My recovery for the final was tough but that is the way it is when you are going deep in tournaments and making finals.

“Obviously it was going to be tough to back up making the final of the Worlds in Chicago and then to go again at Canary Wharf. It's the same for every player who makes a major final, whether it is Ali Farag, Paul Coll or myself. At the elite level of the PSA Tour there are no easy matches and everyone can beat everyone in the top 10 on their day.

“But I have had time to recover back home in Egypt with Raneem [Momen’s wife, El Welily] and I look back on these last two tournaments with pride and I will be good for the Grasshopper Cup and I want to go one better there.”

But as he gets ready to go again at Grasshopper Cup, there can be no doubt that Momen’s back-to-back breakthrough victories over long-term nemesis ElShorbagy have given him a significant shot of self-belief.

The 31-year-old has reached a career high of World No.3 after winning the CCI International in Mumbai and the Channel VAS Championships earlier this season but it is arguable that the successive March victories against Shorbagy have provided Momen with his best moments of the season.

“Probably the biggest positive for me over the last two tournaments was beating Mohamed in both semi-finals. Obviously beating him in Chicago was massive in that it ended a nine-match losing streak that had gone back over seven years,” admitted Momen.

“But to back up that win over him by then winning in four games at Canary Wharf was massive. So often over the last few years Mohamed has been the man to beat. It is a rule of the squash gods: “If you want to win the biggest titles you must beat ElShorbagy!” I had wins over everyone else including Ali but he was the guy I could not beat and at last I managed to beat Mohamed when it mattered most.

“Now I am setting my goals to win every tournament I play in and my determination is to add to the two titles I have already won this season.”

Forty eight of the best male and female players will descend on the Dutch city of Eindhoven between April 9-14 to battle it out for the PSA World Tour Gold titles. 

World No.1 and World Champion Ali Farag is seeded to meet compatriot and World No.2 Mohamed ElShorbagy in the final. The two players have become familiar foes on the PSA World Tour this season, battling it out in three finals already in 2018/19.

Farag will first have to negotiate through a tough field, which sees him drawn on the same side as the likes of Colombia’s 2018 British Open champion Miguel Rodriguez, compatriot Mohamed Abouelghar and Germany’s World No.5 Simon Rösner, who he could face in the last four.

ElShorbagy meanwhile, could face a showdown with compatriot and former World No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad for a place in the final. Also seeded in the bottom half of the draw is New Zealand’s Paul Coll, who recently won the Canary Wharf Squash Classic title and ElShorbagy’s younger brother, Marwan.

Two more Egyptians in the Men’s draw, Mostafa ‘Raging Bull’ Asal who takes on Declan James - who he beat in the BlackBall Open - and Amazing Mazen Hesham who will try to oust Frenchman in form Mathieu Castagnet, semi-finalist in Canary Wharf.

Meanwhile in the women’s draw, World No.1 Raneem El Welily and World Champion Nour El Sherbini could lock horns in the final in their fourth meeting in a final this season.

2019 Black Ball Open winner, El Welily could face compatriot and World No.3 Nour El Tayeb in the semi-finals of the tournament. The last time the two players came up against each other was in the last four of the PSA World Championships in Chicago when El Tayeb put an end to El Welily’s title defence but in Nour’s way stand England Sarah-Jane Perry, while Joelle King could stop Raneem in the quarters...

Nour El Sherbini won’t have an easy ride either as she could face Legend Nicol David or World Junior Champ Rowan El Araby in her first round, with Nouran Gohar to follow, ending in the semis against Camille Serme or Laura Massaro! Two more Egyptians in the Women’s draw with Mariam Metwally facing USA Amanda Sobhy, and Yathreb Adel playing home favourite and wild card Tessa ter Sluis.

The CIBSquashTeam is growing... After the Beauties that are Raneem El Welily, Nour El Tayeb, Nouran Gohar and Hania El Hammamy, here comes a new addition to the CIBSquash Family, Salma “The Glamour” Hany!

Born in Alexandria, the 22 years old player from BlackBall Club is enjoying her best ever ranking of 12 (reached this month March 2019). 

“So honored to sign a partnership agreement with CIB Egypt. Such a pleasure to be among the CIB squash team. “ declared the lucky young lady after the signature of the contract...

Welcome Salma, and we believe that your career is only begining...