Ace Malaysia Cup Final: Dominant Gawad Beats Asal to Claim Second Successive Title

Karim Abdel Gawad is the 2023 Ace Malaysia Squash Cup champion after defeating fellow Egyptian Mostafa Asal 11-8, 12-10, 11-5.

Malaysia marked Gawad’s second consecutive final, after winning the 2023 Grasshopper Cup in October. Asal reached the quarter finals of the same tournament but lost to France’s Baptiste Masotti.

The two Egyptians had played each other twice before: in 2019 where Gawad won in three games, and in a quarter final in 2021 where Asal won in straight games.

The No.1 seed gained an early lead in the first game through several error’s from his compatriot Gawad.

The 32-year-old showed his flair in the middle section of the game, and after three quick decisions went in his favour, Gawad took the opening game.

Coming into the second game, the ‘Raging Bull’ looked more composed, taking an 8-5 lead, but the ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’ undid Asal with three points in quick succession, and the game went to a tie-break. The game was decided by errors on the side of the 22-year-old, as he hit the same spot on the tin twice in a row to gift Gawad a two-game lead.

It was Gawad who took the early lead in game three, leading 5-2 against a frustrated Asal.

The Former World No.1 stayed the course as he pushed on and kept a distinct gap between himself and Asal.

Gawad kept playing the ball quickly, putting pressure on his opponent and reaped the rewards from playing on the front foot, winning the game 11-5 and claiming the 2023 Malaysia Cup title.

“I feel great, winning another title back-to-back and having such a good performance makes me very very happy. The way I perform, the way I move on court, the way I play squash is just very enjoyable for myself now and hopefully for everyone,” Gawad said after his victory.

“Playing Mostafa [Asal]’s very hard, I was looking forward to this match. We’ve played twice before, once when he was still coming up as a young player, the second time was during my injury phase – I wasn’t playing my best squash so I was looking forward to this match.

“I tried to focus at the end of every game. The first game when I was 9-8 down, the second game was the same so I just thought of the end o every game as if it was the end of the match. Hopefully it worked my way, mentally and physically I was ready for a five-game battle.”

Results – Men’s Final: 2023 Ace Malaysia Squash Cup
[2] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt [1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 12-10, 11-5 (51m)