Analysis: PSA World Championships

The biggest event on the PSA World Tour calendar took place earlier this month as the CIB PSA World Championships concluded in Cairo Egypt. Two brand new World Champions were crowned with Peru’s Diego Elias and Egypt’s Nouran Gohar claiming the titles after producing fantastic squash all week. 

Elias became the first South American player ever to win the championships, whilst Gohar avoided a fourth successive runner-up finish in a World Championships to lift the trophy. 

We’ve taken a look at the runs of both the champions through the tournament and analysed the matches that took them to World Championships glory.

Round One

Unlike in any of the other World Tour events, there are no byes in the opening round of the World Championships, meaning that all players played with only the top 16 players seeded, it makes for some quite tricky opening round matches. 

The champions had no such trouble in their round one fixtures. Both Gohar and Elias featured on the Palm Hills glass court and needed exactly the same time to bet their opponents Emilia Soini and Abdulla Al Tamimi to advance to round two. The pair were both in fine form and gave their opponents no opportunity to gain any momentum. They hit their targets well to all four corners and after 30 minutes, both claimed 3-0 wins.

Round Two

It was business as usual for Elias in round two as he defeated Spain’s Iker Pajares in straight games to make the last 16. The Peruvian used his trademark hold to stop and start the movement of Pajares, which ate away at the Spaniard’s legs shot by shot. Pajares wasn’t able to score over 5 points in any of the games as he was completely dominated by Elias. 11-4, 11-5, 11-4 were the final scores in a quality performance by the No.3 seed.

Gohar was up against compatriot Hana Moataz in her second round match, a first meeting of the two Egyptians. After a convincing first game, Gohar took her foot off the gas slightly which allowed Moataz to step in and show what she’s got. The World No.28 snuck ahead on the scoreboard and won 11-9 to equalise. ‘The Terminator’ fired straight back and didn’t hold back as she motored through to win 3-1. 

Round Three

As the duo reached round three, two tricky customers awaits in the form of USA’s Sabrina Sobhy and Egypt’s Youssef Ibrahim. Elias was the first to book his quarter final place as what can only be described as the perfect performance saw him completely control one of the best shot players in the world. Elias made squash look very simple as he kept the ball incredibly tight, leaving Ibrahim no angles to attack with and when he did throw the ball in short, Elias countered with clinical precision. Incredibly, Ibrahim was only able to score 7 points in the whole match as the Peruvian marched on to the last eight. 

The night after, Gohar was producing a similar performance of her own as he completely negated the weapons of Sabrina Sobhy to win in straight games. Gohar’s hard-hitting game was in full flow , constantly pummelling the ball to the back corners and unleashing severe kills and boasts when the time was right. Gohar only surrendered one more point than Elias as she won 11-3, 11-4, 11-1.

Quarter Finals

In a repeat of last years quarter final, Diego Elias now faced Karim Abdel Gawad in a bid to claim his revenge after last years early exit. The loss in the 2023 event was a painful one for Elias to take and the Peruvian looked as determined as ever to avenge the loss. The higher seed started the better of the two as he claimed the opening game 11-5, twisting and turning Gawad to put work into him early. 

The movement of Gawad wasn’t looking at its usual smooth best but Elias was leaving nothing to chance. He continued to squeeze Gawad on the side walls and work the ball into difficult areas. After an 11-1 second game doubled Elias’s lead, he took the third 11-6 to become the first South American to reach a World Championships semi-final.

2019 runner-up Nour El Tayeb stood in the way of Nouran Gohar and a place in another World Championships semi-final on day eight of the event. The No.3 seed hadn’t lost to El Tayeb in the last 10 meetings and was determined to continue that supremacy on the all-glass court at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation.

As the score reached 1-1, the cat and mouse rallies were entertaining the home crowd. Gohar was hitting powerfully to the back corners whilst trying to remain in front of El Tayeb, whist the underdog was attempting to use her subtleties to outmanoeuvre Gohar and use her power against her. The pace and precision was simply too much for El Tayeb as Gohar stormed the third game 11-4 before hanging on well in the fourth to win 11-9 in just over an hour.

Semi-Finals

The final four of the 2023/24 PSA World Championships, a place where Diego Elias had never been before and the task couldn’t get much tougher as he faced World No.1 and 4x World Champion Ali Farag. The top seed held a dominate head-to-head record over Elias heading into the match with 22 wins of 25 matches, four of which coming in finals this season. 

Elias played this match very differently to how he had in the past. He utilised the lob from both the front and back corners, to give himself time to recover out of the shot and get himself back on the T. Elias’ backhand drop set up many volleying opportunities and Farag looked starved for options at times. Elias moved to 2-1 10-7 and after a Farag found the tin, the Peruvian was in the final. 

Gohar once again came up against Hania El Hammamy in her semi-final as she looked to continue her pursuit of the ultimate prize. In a mammoth first game, El Hammamy came out on top 14-12 which seemed to have done more damage than good. Gohar has often been too emotional in this match-up and has let that take over her squash, but not on this occasion. The No.3 seed kept her emotions in check and played smart, structured squash to constantly have El Hammamy on the back foot. 

El Hammamy had no answer for Gohar’s game, which was stronger in all aead on the day. Gohar won 11-2, 11-5, 11-7 in the final three games in what was the best performance that she has produced against El Hammamy in recent years. 

Finals

The Women’s final was up first on finals day with Nour El Sherbini looking to claim a record-equalling eight World title and Gohar looking to claim her first. The former had beaten ElSherbini in the recent El Gouna International final and looked the more confident of the two in the earl exchanges. The Egyptian pair traded blows in the opening two games with neither able to really take control of the game. 

As the final reached 1-1, it was Gohar who looked both physically and mentally the stronger of the two. She wasn’t making any errors and was forcing them from ElSherbini, a recipe for disaster for the seven-time champ. It felt like ElSherbini would click into gear at some point, as that has been the case many times before, but Gohar simply never gave the World No.1 the opportunity. After securing a 2-0 lead, Gohar showed no mercy as she marched towards the finish line. Gohar set herself up with 5 match balls at 10-5 and only needed one as she claimed her first World Championships title.

A new name on the trophy was guaranteed in the men’s final as Elias took on 22-year-old Mostafa Asal in both of their first World Championships finals. A momentous occasion for both players bit only one could etch their name in history on the day. 

The Egyptian crowd were fully supporting their man Asal but the calm and measured nature of Elias made it purely about the squash. The Peruvian continued to play the way that he has all tournament, ensuring that the game was played at his pace and controlling the weapons of his opponent. Both the opening games followed similar patterns with the score reaching 5-5 and Elias pulling ahead due to poor attacking shots from Asal and errors from the Egyptian’s racket. 2-0 to Elias. One hand on the trophy.  

A topsy turvy third game involved quality rallies with both players trying their hardest to control the middle. The game reached a crucial point at 9-9, Elias was given a No Let to hand Asal a lifeline. They say you need a bit of luck to win a World title and Elias couldn’t have asked for it at a better time. A framed cross court just reaching the front wall followed by a serve into the nick gave the Peruvian a championship ball. A cross-court nick attempt was then thundered into the tin by Asal and Elias dropped to his knees as the new Men’s PSA World Champion.