The PSA World Tour heads to Egypt for the first time this season as the Black Ball Squash Open returns to the calendar with 48 players descending on the Black Ball Sporting Club bidding to claim the Gold event titles.
The top seeds for the event are runaway World #1 Ali Farag in the men’s draw and defending champion Nouran Gohar in the women’s event. Farag will be looking to claim a first title at the Black Ball Sporting Club after failing to collect the trophy in the five times that he has played there before. The Egyptian has only lost to one player this season, Paul Coll. However, the New Zealand #1 will not feature in the event this week, which will no doubt comfort Farag in his bid to claim a seventh title of the season.
Gohar will be looking to defend her title from 2023 this week and in the process claim her first title of an injury affected season. ‘The Terminator’ is the only one of the world’s top three to be playing this week and will be determined to capitalise on the fact that Nour ElSherbini and Hania El Hammamy are missing.
Mostafa Asal is the #2 seed in the men’s event and will be looking to bounce back after his final loss at the recent London Squash Classic. ‘The Raging Bull’ has already claimed a Gold event win in 2024, claiming the Florida Open title back in January. Asal will be determined to finish the season strongly to move back inside the world’s top three.
USA’s Olivia Weaver is the second seed in the women’s event, her highest seeding in a Gold level event. Weaver hasn’t played an event outside the USA since the Hong Kong Open in early December but heads to Egypt this week to try and claim the biggest title of her career.
The top two seeds face tough competition elsewhere in the draws as the likes of Karim Abdel Gawad, Mazen Hesham and last year’s runner up Tarek Momen are clear dangers in the men’s draw whilst Nour El Tayeb, Tinne Gilis and Rowan Elaraby pose serious threats in the women’s draw.
