The 2021 CIB Black Ball Squash Open GOLD events will take place from 12th to 20th December with the world’s best Women and Men competing for the titles ..
El Tayeb to return at CIB Squash Open Black Ball Open
Egypt’s former World No.3 Nour El Tayeb will make her highly-anticipated return to competitive action at December’s CIB Squash Open Black Ball from 12th to 16th December, following the birth of her daughter.
El Tayeb, together with husband and men’s World No.1 Ali Farag, welcomed her daughter Farida into the world in July and will line up at the PSA World Tour Gold tournament just five months after becoming a mother for the first time.
El Tayeb has won two major PSA titles, the 2017 U.S. Open – which she won on the same night Farag won his first major title – and the 2018 Windy City Open.
The 28-year-old is seeded at No.7 for the event and will receive a bye into round two where she will take on either Canada’s Danielle Letourneau or Scotland’s Lisa Aitken. A win there will pit her against World No.1 Nour El Sherbini – who won the Platinum edition of the CIB PSA Black Ball Squash Open in March – in the last eight.
El Sherbini is the top seed for the event and is seeded to come up against England’s Sarah-Jane Perry in the semi finals. Perry is the defending Gold edition champion after she came back from two games down to upset Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy, who is seeded No.3 at this year’s event.
El Hammamy is predicted to meet World No.2 Nouran Gohar in the semi finals on the bottom half of the draw.
A men’s Gold event will also be held from 16trh to 20th December, and World Champion Farag will headline a field that also contains the likes of New Zealand’s Paul Coll, former World Champion Tarek Momen and U.S. Open winner Mostafa Asal.
Farag was a runner-up at this event in December, losing to compatriot Fares Dessouky, and is seeded to play World No.6 Asal in the last four. Momen, meanwhile, has a tough draw that could see him take on Marwan ElShorbagy – who won the Platinum edition of this tournament in March – in the quarter finals before a potential clash with World No.3 Coll in the last four.
World No.448 Abdelrahman Nassar is the men’s wildcard, while World No.204 Lojayn Gohary has been named as the women’s wildcard.
