Coll Comes Back From 2-0 Down To Beat Top Seed Farag In The Optasia Championships Men’s Final

In the men’s final, one of the contestants – Egypt’s World No.1 Ali Farag and New Zealand’s World No.2 Paul Coll – was set to claim their second Optasia Championships title. With the pair competing in their fourth final (and fifth match) of the season, the score was tied at two apiece.

It was Coll who started the better, moving from 3-3 in the first game to take a 7-3 lead, but Farag struck back, delighting the packed crowd with some wonderful recoveries and winning shots as he fought back to level at 7-7, taking the lead 11-8 after 18 minutes.

Farag dominated the second game, continuing his form from the first and taking a lead at 5-2 before reeling off the next six points to win 11-2 after 9 minutes.

As the World Champion moved ahead in the third game to 5-2 and 7-4, Coll was looking dispirited at times, but as Farag finally started to make some errors, Coll’s interest and energy levels rose and playing as fast as possible, he levelled at 9-9. The New Zealander earned and lost a game ball but worked for another one and a deep crosscourt gave him the game 12-10 after 20 minutes.

Farag was observing the Ramadan fast, and was just minutes short of the 18:13 time slot when he could start taking on fluids. It didn’t seem to make much difference; he had the upper hand from the outset of the fourth game, leading 4-2, 6-4 and 8-5 finding winners like he had in the opening games. But then he started clipping the tin, and Coll was back at 8-8 then 9-9. Farag would get one match ball at 10-9 on a stroke, but Coll saved that with a crunching drive and two Farag tin hits later the match pushed into a deciding game.

Now hydrated, Farag recovered from a 2-4 deficit in the fifth. He then found four winners in a row from 5-5 to move two points from the title. For the third game in a row, Coll fought back, throwing in a massive dive at 8-9 which kept Farag off a championship ball.

As Coll levelled at 9-9, Farag looked to be cramping up. Two more rallies and two more winners from the No.2 seed and Coll claimed the 2024 Optasia Championships title!

“It was a massive battle out there tonight,” said Coll after the match. “I just want to say I’ve got the utmost respect for Ali for what doing. Not just for the athlete he is, but for the person he is. I think that’s why he’s so dominant this season. Thank you for all the battles.

“I put lot of work in the off-season to get back to my fighting best. I didn’t feel like I had that last season. I was doing all my breathing techniques, all my mental things because it was a real battle.

“I had to come back several times. I had my coach come down today which really helped me. Seeing my childhood friends in the front row was something special, and hearing my girlfriend who had a tough loss come and support me. All these people around me really got me up today.

“I’m proud of the fight I put in. Another just really enjoyable battle with Ali out there. I’ve enjoyed every match this season and I’m happy to get another win.”

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Results: Optasia Championships 2024 Men’s Final
[2] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [1] Ali Farag (EGY) 3-2: 8-11, 2-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-9 (91m)