Joel Makin in fifth place as chase hots up for finale in Egypt
By ELLIE MAWSON – Squash Mad Correspondent

Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini and Karim Abdel Gawad have qualified for the season-ending PSA World Tour Finals after they claimed the PSA Women’s World Championship and CIB Egyptian Squash Open titles, respectively.

Former World No.1 El Sherbini claimed her fourth World Championship title after she defeated current World No.1 Raneem El Welily in the final to retain her title on Friday.

Gawad, meanwhile, overcame World No.1 Ali Farag in straight games to lift his first title of the season at the CIB Egyptian Squash Open, PSA World Tour Platinum event.

The PSA World Tour Finals includes both a men’s and women’s tournament and brings together the reigning PSA World Champions and all six PSA World Tour Platinum title winners.

Any remaining places are allocated to the highest ranked players on the Road to Egypt Standings and points will be on offer at all PSA World Tour events during the season.

After reaching three finals and winning the Oracle NetSuite Open title, World No.1 Raneem El Welily leads the way on the women’s leaderboard with 6,090 points. World No.3 Nour El Tayeb is in second place with 5,490 points after reaching three finals this season and winning the J.P. Morgan China Squash Open at the start of the season.

In third place is Nouran Gohar, who has already secured her place at the season-ending event after winning the U.S. Open in October, and France’s Camille Serme is fourth with 3,805 points.

El Sherbini comes in at fifth place and after winning the World Championship confirms her place in Cairo, while 19-year-old Hania El Hammamy is sixth on the leaderboard after reaching her first World Championship semi-final in Egypt.

The rest of the top eight is completed by England’s Sarah-Jane Perry and United States’ Amanda Sobhy, while New Zealand’s Joelle King is within touching distance of the top eight with 2,050 points.

It is Farag who currently leads the way on the men’s Road to Egypt standings with 5,710 points, and he has already qualified following his U.S.Open victory. He is closely followed by World No.2 Mohamed ElShorbagy with 5,310 points. The Egyptian has reached three finals this season and won back-to-back titles at the China Squash Open and Oracle NetSuite Open.

Gawad, meanwhile, sits in third but has already qualified thanks to his victory in Cairo last week. He is followed by New Zealand’s Paul Coll in fourth, Wales’ Joel Makin – who reached his first Platinum semi-final in Cairo – and Egypt’s World No.3 Tarek Momen.

The top eight is completed by Egypt’s Marwan ElShorbagy in seventh and Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez, while Germany’s Simon Rosner and India’s Saurav Ghosal are both in striking distance of the qualification spots.

The next event for an automatic place at the PSA World Tour Finals is the PSA Men’s World Championship which takes place in Doha, Qatar between November 8-15. 

Route to the PSA World Tour Finals.

Pictures courtesy of PSA