El Gouna International SF: Gohar Crushes Kennedy To Reach Fifth Consecutive Final

Defending El Gouna International champion Nouran Gohar will take on World No.1 Nour El Sherbini in this year’s final after taking down English No.4 seed Georgina Kennedy in a ruthless performance.

The former World No.1 was prolific in the first game, firing past Kennedy time and again with the Englishwoman struggling badly against the Egyptian’s relentless pace and power as Gohar won game one 11-6.

There was no let up from the defending champion in the second game, either, with the 26-year-old somehow finding an even higher gear as she took game two 11-4 to earn a commanding lead.

Kennedy seemed to have gained a semblance of control early on in game three as she took a narrow lead, but it proved a false dawn, with ‘the Terminator’ going on a brutal scoring run to go into her fifth consecutive El Gouna International Squash Open final.

“I’m obviously very happy. First, Gina is one of my closest friends on tour. She’s an amazing competitor and we go way back. We’ve known each other since we were kids. We were very innocent at that time!” Gohar said afterwards.

“It’s a nice feeling to see people you grow up with, playing against them. It’s always good to play against her because it’s free-flowing squash. Yesterday she played incredibly well. She hit some unbelievable drops and boasts and I was really on my toes today because she hit a couple of good ones!

“If I play anything at the front, she’s a rocket on to it.

“At this tournament I think I got one of the toughest draws. I was playing from the first round people who you might face in a Platinum final!

“It really prepared me mentally to switch on and be sharp for the beginning. I wanted to stay fresh for tomorrow’s final because as they say it’s a classic between me and [Nour] Sherbini and we really want to give a good show to the crowd tomorrow.”

Result: El Gouna International Squash Open Women’s Semi-Final

[2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [4] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 (31m)

The finals of the El Gouna International Squash Open take place tomorrow from 19:30 (GMT+3) live on SQUASHTV and on the partner channels of the PSA.

For updates on the El Gouna International Squash Open 2024, visit the PSA website or follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.