Gallery: Black Ball Squash Open 2024

The Black Ball Squash Open 2024 concluded on Tuesday, with Egyptian duo Nouran Gohar and Mostafa Asal capturing the titles in Cairo.

Gohar made it a hat-trick of Black Ball Open title successes, defeating No.2 seed Olivia Weaver 3-0.

Meanwhile Asal secured his first-ever Black Ball Open crown after overcoming World No.1 Ali Farag 3-1 in the men’s decider.

We’ve picked a selection of our favourite images from the tournament, from the incredible athleticism of the players on the PSA World Tour to the range of emotions of winning and losing.

Photographer’s Choice

PSA photographer Steve Line has picked out the above image of Miguel Rodriguez and Tarek Momen as his favourite image of the week.

He says: “A player leaping to avoid the strike from a player behind is a shot I’ve been after for decades.

“The athletic showman Miguel Rodriguez is always the best candidate, so after taking a few early tight shots of his match against Tarek on the long zoom, I changed to the shorter zoom to be ready for anything that Miguel might throw at me, be it a dive, an extravagant drop, or maybe even a leap.

“Halfway during the second game, Miguel hit a shot around the angles to put Tarek behind him at the back of the court.

“Normally, a player would stop, but no, Tarek looked like he was going strike it. Shoot. The first of the camera’s 14 frames a second caught the shot perfectly.

“Miguel at the top of his jump, feet tucked under him, with the ball just leaving Tarek’s racket. Result!”

PSA Video Content Producer Rob Ellis was waiting in the wings as Olivia Weaver prepared for her final meeting with eventual winner Nouran Gohar.

He says: “The reality of squash isn’t as glamorous as many think. Olivia Weaver spent her final moments before playing the Black Ball final warming up on a dark side court.

From a photographic perspective, the rays of light spilling onto the court from the stage lights were aimed perfectly towards Olivia. A challenging photograph to take but it turned out great.”

Take a look at the rest of our favourites below: