Asal Wins Third Successive CIB PSA World Tour Finals Crown

Egypt’s Mostafa Asal got the better of Peru’s Diego Elias in a stop-start contest, as he won the CIB PSA World Tour Finals for the third year in succession.

The pair had met earlier in the week, with the Egyptian coming out the winner in a controversial group stage match. This contest followed the same pattern, with the only change being that this was in the best-of-five format.

The ‘Peruvian Puma’ was able to shut out the distractions in the opening game. With the score at 10-9 to Elias, Asal called for a PowerPlay, which meant the next point was sudden death. It was the Peruvian who took it, to hold the early advantage in the contest.

However from there, as the match got more and more disjointed, Asal was able to take control. With the crowd becoming louder as the contest went on, the Peruvian seemed to lose his way, and he became more irritated with all of the contact that was occurring on court.

In the end, Asal was able to run out the winner rather easily in the fourth game, rounding out the victory in a match that saw plenty of decisions. The Egyptian becomes the second man to win the CIB PSA World Tour Finals in three successive seasons, following Peter Nicol, who achieved the same feat from 1999 to 2001.

“It means a lot, you know. Without them, without my fans, my team, my partners.. Thank you guys for coming today,” Asal said.

“It is unreal [matching Peter Nicol’s achievement]. I couldn’t talk straight away after. It was tough today. Diego is a fantastic player and it was tough in all the situations today. He is one of the best players in the world.

“For sure, my father, mother and coach, Mohamed Elkeiy, they have been through all of it. Since El Gouna, I want to thank him a lot! After the ban, it was so tough for me, I am proud of everyone who has my back!”

Result:

[4] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [1] Diego Elias (PER) 3-1: 9-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5 (81m)