Giza-born Karim Abdel Gawad is one of the most skilful players on Tour, and is one of the few players who can say they have been World Champion and World No.1 in the sport.

He won the first PSA World Tour event that he participated in, the 2008 Goshen Cup, at the tender age of seventeen and has gone on to rise up the rankings since his maiden title.

2013 was something of a breakthrough year for Gawad. The hugely talented Egyptian produced a terrific performance at the Qatar Classic, narrowly losing to Karim Darwish in the quarter-finals and was duly awarded the 2013 PSA Player of the Year award, in addition to making into the top twenty for the first time in his career.

He followed this up by stunning number one seed Alister Walker in the final of the 2014 Pittsburgh Open, resulting in a 3-1 win for the Egyptian to capture his first PSA World Tour title since 2011 before beating Chris Simpson to win the Dubai Cup. The Egyptian had a superb first half of 2015 as he romped to the Pittsburgh Open and Andorra Open crowns his 9th and 10th PSA World Tour titles respectively, before winning the Sharm El Sheikh International Championship on home-soil.

Gawad enjoyed a successful start to the 2015/16 campaign, rising into the world’s top 10 for the first time in his career in November 2015. He followed that up by winning his first PSA M35 crown at the Edmonton Open later that month and, three months later, celebrated his maiden PSA M70 crown with victory over compatriot Tarek Momen in the Swedish Open. Gawad capped of a fine season by reaching his first World Series semi-final at the prestigious British Open in March 2016.

The talented Egyptian fared even better in the early months of the 2016/17 season, however, as he reached a first World Series final in August’s Hong Kong Open - eventually going down to compatriot Ramy Ashour - before becoming the first home player to triumph at the Al Ahram Open in front of the iconic Great Pyramid of Giza since Ahmed Barada 18 years previously.

Three months later, Gawad met Ashour in the final of the 2016 PSA Men’s World Championship and, after Gawad took a 2-1 lead, Ashour sustained a hamstring injury, handing the sport’s biggest prize to Gawad as he cemented himself as one of the most exciting players to grace the sport in recent years.

Less than a fortnight after his World Championship triumph, Gawad headed to Doha for the Qatar Classic, where he claimed back-to-back PSA World Tour titles for the first time in his career after dispatching Mohamed ElShorbagy in the showpiece finale, earning him a spot inside the world’s top two in the process.

Gawad rose from eighth in the world at the start of the 2016/17 season to top the PSA Men’s World Rankings in May 2017. During the season Gawad claimed five PSA World Tour titles – including major titles at the PSA Men’s World Championship, J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions and Qatar Classic. He became the fifth Egyptian player to ever top the PSA Men’s World Rankings after reaching the final of the 2017 El Gouna International Squash Open and despite losing the title decider to Gregory Gaultier, he became World No.1.

Gawad then won the Houston Open, defeating Tarek Momen in the final. A runner-up finish at the Oracle NetSuite Open followed, before reaching the semis of the Hong Kong Open. He made the last four of the Oracle NetSuite in 2018, before reaching the same stage at the Channel VAS Championships. His loss to Ali Farag at St George’s Hill was the first of three consecutive tournaments where he exited thanks to his compatriot.

The Egyptian then won his next two tournaments, to move back into the top five in the world rankings. He took victory at both the Pakistan Open and Black Ball Open, before reaching the last four of the Tournament of Champions to start 2019. Gawad also reached the semi finals of the Grasshopper Cup, DPD Open and the British Open in a good run at the end of the season, which also included an appearance in the final of the El Gouna International, along with victory at the season-ending World Tour Finals in Cairo.

Gawad moved back inside the top three in the World Rankings at the end of 2019, following a bumper November, which saw victories at the CIB Egyptian Squash Open and then Channel VAS Championships at St. George’s Hill.

The ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’ was a key member of the Egyptian squad that took the WSF Men’s World Team Squash Championships in December 2019 in Washington, D.C., as they defeated England in the final. Back on an individual front, he then reached the semi-finals of both the Tournament of Champions and the Windy City Open presented by the Walter Family.

The Egyptian made it through to the final of the Manchester Open, the first event back after the PSA World Tour returned, but lost out in four games to World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy. He then lost out in the final of the season-ending CIB PSA World Tour Finals in Cairo, defeated by the younger of the ElShorbagy brothers.

Gawad started 2021 with quarter final appearances at the El Gouna International Squash Open and the PSA World Championships 2020-2021, but struggled with plantar fasciitis throughout the year. Further last eight results came at the Oracle NetSuite Open and the CIB Squash Open Black Ball to end the calendar year.

The 2016 World Champion started 2022 with a pair of quarter final results at the Sturbridge Capital Motor City Open and the Optasia Championships, before winning the Bronze level Karachi Open Squash Championships in Pakistan. He also made the semi-finals of the Manchester Open later that summer. Unfortunately for Gawad, he missed the majority of 2022 due to suffering from plantar fasciitis, with a last 16 appearance at the CIB PSA World Championships in May of that year being the last time he featured.

The Egyptian returned on home soil at the Black Ball Squash Open, 10 months after his last appearance on Tour. Gawad then flew back up the rankings to sit just outside the world’s top 10 come the end of the 2022-2023 season, thanks to a win at the Optasia Championships, and then runner-up finishes at both the PSA World Championships and the Manchester Open.