WCQ : Elsirty and Garas claim the spots

Elsirty and Garas claim African World Championship Qualifying Spots

Egypt’s Moustafa Elsirty and Nardin Garas will play in next month’s PSA World Championships in Cairo after securing their places with contrasting victories in today’s Qualifying event finals at the Black Ball Sporting Club.

Sixth seed Elsirty, who had downed top seed Mazen Gamal on his way to the final in a seies of tough encounters, met 19-year-old Kareem El Torkey who, as fifth seed, had beaten the second and third seeds on his route to the final.

The first four games were shared, with El Torkey twice taking the lead only to be pegged back, but it was Elsirty who started the decider stronger, taking an 8-4 lead. From there it was all-action, with both both players diving to the floor, determined play from from El Torkey and a number of errors from Elsirty, and El Torkey had two match balls at 10-8.

Elsirty saved both, and eventually took the victory 14-12 on his third match ball.

“When I was behind I knew I still had it in me,” said Elsirty. “I had to keep playing my game and go for shots, just a bit more carefully, I knew I wanted it more than him, so very happy to get through to my second worlds.”

By contrast top seeded Garas went through the women’s tournament without dropping a game, although unseeded Nadien Elhammamy pushed her close in all three games of the final.

Semis : Elhammamy notches up third successive upset as the finalists are decided in Cairo

The finals are set in the World Championship Qualifier for Africa, after today’s semi-finals at the Black Ball Club in Cairo.

Three of the top four seeds were already out of the men’s event, and today saw the third seed depart as Kareem El Torky ousted British Junior Open champion Mohamed Zakaria in five gruelling games. The first four games were shared, El Torkey twice taking the lead and twice being pegged back, but the 19-yesr-old fifth seed dominated the decider to advance to the final.

In the final he’ll meet sixth seed Moustafa Elsirty who, having survived two five game encounters to reach the semi-finals, came from a game down to beat seventh seed Mohamed Nasser.

“He’s the son of my fitness coach so we grew up together and play together but we only played three times on PSA, I won all three! Happy to not need five games today, looking forward to the final.”

Women’s top seed Nardine Garas completed a third consecutive 3-0 win, beating sixth seed Ingy Hammouda in the shortest match of the day.

“I’ve played Ingy a lot, but never in a tournament before so glad to win that one. I’m playing well so I hope I can get one more win to qualify – I got the Worlds wildcard in 2022 and lost 3-1 to Hollie Naughton so it would be good to get another chance.

If the first women’s semi was one-sided, the second weas anything but as Nadien Elhammamy and Habiba Hani battled it out for just over an hour, unseeded Elhammamy getting the better of four close games to record a third successive upset.

“I wasn’t seeded because I’m young, 16, and don’t play many tournaments – I need to play more Egyptian events to get my ranking up ! That was a real battle, happy to get through but I’ve got the top seed tomorrow, we’ll see how that goes.”

The finals start at 15.00 tomorrow, once again  on the glass court, with the winners earning a place in next month’s World Championships, also in Cairo.

Quarters : Men’s seeds skittled as Elhammamy does it again

The quarter-finals of the World Championship Qualifying event for Africa produced a series of upsets as the semi-finalists were decided at the Black Ball Club in Cairo.

The all-Egyptian men’s matches took place first, and the opening encounter produced a big upset assixth seed Moustafa Elsirty – who edged home in a round one five-setter yesterday – overcame top seed Mazen Gamal in five games, taking the match on his fifth match ball.

More upsets followed as Mohamed Nasser beat fourth seed Seif El-Shenawy in straight games to set up a meeting with Elsirty, while in the bottom half of the draw fifth seed Kareem El Torkey, fresh from winning the Rotterdam Open just two days ago, came from a game down to beat second seed Yassin Elshafei. The 19-year-old will meet 16-year-old Mohamed Zakaria, who beat unseeded Hazem Hossam in straight games in the only men’s match of the day to go with seeding.

By contrast three of the four women’s matches – which also produced four home winners – went to seeding. Top seed Nardin Garas was tested by young Nour Megahed but came through in straight games, and she’ll face Ingy Hammouda who ended non-Egyptian interest with a 3-0 win over South Africa’s Hayley Ward, coming from 1-8 down in the third to secure the win.

Fourth seed Habiba Hani went two games up against Malak Fathy but needed a fifth game to ultimately claim the win. She’ll face unseeded Nadien Elhammamy who after despatching the second seed yesterday produced another upset in the last match of the day, beating seventh seed Nour Khagafy by taking two tie-break games before easing through the third.

Semi-final take place tomorrow on the Glass Court, starting at 12.00.

R1 : Egyptians dominate as Elhammamy shocks second seed

The African World Championship Qualifying competition got under way at the Black Ball Sporting Club in Cairo today, running alongside the third day of the PSA Gold level Black Ball Squash Open.

Both men’s and women’s events feature 16-player draws with the eventual winners earning qualification for the PSA World Championships next month in Cairo. The first two rounds will be played out on the club’s traditional courts with the semis and finals staged on the all-Glass court prior to the PSA events.

The men’s draw was dominated by home players with eight Egyptians set to contest the quarter-finals. The only seeding upset saw Hazem Hossam overcome South Africa’s eight-seeded Dewald van Niekirk in a five game thriller.

Sixth seed Mostafa Elsirty had his work cut out against Nigeria’s Gabriel Olufunmilayo, coming from two-one down to also win in five games.

Also through are British Junior Open champion Mohamed Zakaria, and Kareem El Torkey who returned from winning the Rotterdam Open yesterday and prevailed in five games.

Seven Egyptians will contest the Women’s quarter-finals, joined by South Africa’s Hayley Ward who overcame third seeded Hana Ismail in four games.

The last match of the day produced the biggest upset, as Nadien Elhammamy downed second seed Amina El Rihany in straight games.

Tomorrow’s men’s quarter-finals start at 12.00, the women’s at 16.00, all on court 13.

Draws & Results