London Classic QF: Gohar Eases Past Perry

In the first match of the evening session, Egypt’s Nouran Gohar beat England’s Sarah-Jane Perry to reach the semi-finals of the GillenMarkets London Classic.

Gohar made a shaky start to the match, with the World No.3 struggling during the short rallies.

A possibly decisive moment occurred midway through game one. With Perry 6-5 up, the England No.2’s racket hand was caught by the racket of Gohar, with Perry requiring treatment.

Although the No.6 seed was able to resume, the momentum she had been building was gone, with Gohar settling in to take the opener 11-7.

Game two was a one-sided encounter, with Gohar easing into the semis with an 11-2 win.

After the match, Gohar spoke of her respect for Perry and the challenge of balancing fasting during Ramadan with being a professional athlete:

“I knew SJ was going to be very dangerous. She loves playing in England and it’s completely understandable with a crowd like this! You guys make us play our best squash and I imagine if I was an Englishwoman I would be even better!

“This format, she’s going to go for it and I had to be ready from the start.  I wasn’t finding my length but got a good rhythm at the end.

“I don’t really care [about other players’ results] I just care about the next match and what I’m going to do. It’s worked pretty well for me throughout my career and that’s how I approach things, I think about myself. If I’m ready and playing well I can cause trouble to anyone.

“I have five minutes to go until I can eat [Gohar is fasting during Ramadan]! It’s never easy training during Ramandan, it’s hard on the eating and drinking pattern but also on the sleep pattern. That’s hard too because you make your day night, and your night day.

“But this is one of the months that I’m most looking forward to during the year because it’s one of the most peaceful moments of the year. I want to stick to the traditions of what I’m doing, even if I have a tournament.

“I have a responsibility to being a professional squash player and playing tournaments but this is my religion, it’s my faith and something I’m very proud of. I just think it’s hard but something we love, for sure.”

Result: [3] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [6] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 2-0: 11-7, 11-2 (19m)

The semi-finals of the GillenMarkets London Squash Classic take place tomorrow, 31 March, at Alexandra Palace. Action will be streamed live on SQUASHTV from 15:00 (GMT).

For more information on the GillenMarkets London Squash Classic, visit the PSA website or follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can also keep track of all of the live scores from the event by clicking here.