Stunning new venues at National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and Club S Allegria in Cairo
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

May’s 2021-22 PSA World Championships in Cairo will be the richest squash tournament in history offering $1.1m in total prize money with the two winners taking home around $80k each.

The tournament takes place at two new venues with the early rounds at the Club S Allegria before moving to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

The early stages of this 10-day jamboree will be held at Club S from May 13-18 with an overlap when play takes place outdoors at the Museum from the third round onwards between May 17-22.

Club S owners SONDIC (Sixth of October Development & Investment Company) will be supporting title sponsors CIB Bank to fund this squash spectacular which will once again underscore Egypt’s position as the premier nation in the sport, both on and off the court.

Website: National Museum of Egyptian Civilization

The tournament will be headed up by World No.1s Paul Coll and Nouran Gohar, while reigning world champions Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini are seeded at No.2 for the event.

Coll, the only male New Zealander ever to reach the summit of the PSA World Rankings, will begin his tournament against wildcard Sheif Shenawy, while Farag is set to face Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas in the opening round.

Farag, a two-time World Champion, is drawn on the same side of the draw as the likes of World No.4 Mostafa Asal and the dangerous Marwan ElShorbagy, while Coll could come up against 2017 World Champion Mohamed ElShorbagy in the semi finals if matches go to seeding.

The men’s draw also features two other former World Champions in Tarek Momen, the 2019-20 champion, and fellow Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad, the 2016 champion. Momen takes on Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng in round one, with Gawad set to face Dimitri Steinmann of Switzerland.

Gohar, a runner-up at the women’s 2020-21 PSA World Championships in Chicago, will get her event under way against France’s Enora Villard and is seeded to face USA’s Amanda Sobhy and No.8 seed Rowan Elaraby en route to the title decider.

World No.2 Nour El Sherbini, who has won the PSA World Championship title on five of the previous six occasions, will open up against Spain’s Cristina Gomez and is seeded to come up against Allam British Open champion Hania El Hammamy in what would be a blockbuster semi final battle.

The two champions will take home approximately $80,000 in prize money, the largest winners’ totals at a PSA event, and will also qualify for June’s CIB PSA World Tour Finals.

This season-ending showpiece event, also set for Cairo, brings together the reigning PSA World Champions, as well as the winners of all PSA World Tour Platinum events.

Just two spots remain in the World Championship draw, with the winners of next month’s Bermuda Open qualifying for the biggest event on the PSA World Tour.

Action from the glass court at both the Club S Allegria and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation will be broadcast live on SQUASHTV, while the semi finals and finals will be shown live via the channels of PSA’s broadcast partners.

CIB 2021-22 PSA World Championships, Cairo, Egypt (May 13-22).

Men’s Draw:
[1] Paul Coll (NZL) v [WC] Seif Shenawy (EGY)
Declan James (ENG) v Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND)
Karim El Hammamy (EGY) v [I] Ibrahim Elkabbani (EGY)
Tayyab Aslam (PAK) v [10] Mazen Hesham (EGY)
[9] Joel Makin (WAL) v [I] Leandro Romiglio (ARG)
Lucas Serme (FRA) v Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
Faraz Khan (USA) v Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY)
Eain Yow Ng (MAS) v [6] Tarek Momen (EGY)
[8] Fares Dessouky (EGY) v [I] Rui Soares (POR)
George Parker (ENG) v Edmon Lopez (ESP)
James Willstrop (ENG) v Ramit Tandon (IND)
Auguste Dussourd (FRA) v [13] Gregoire Marche (FRA)
[12] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Dimitri Steinmann (SUI)
Baptiste Masotti (FRA) v Victor Crouin (FRA)
Shahjahan Khan (USA) v [Qualifier]
[I] Balazs Farkas (HUN) v [3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)
[4] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v Adrian Waller (ENG)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) v Moustafa El Sirty (EGY)
Alan Clyne (SCO) v Todd Harrity (USA)
Zahed Salem (EGY) v [16] Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[15] Youssef Soliman (EGY) v Borja Golan (ESP)
Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) v [WC] Yassin Elshafei (EGY)
Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) v Bernat Jaume (ESP)
Patrick Rooney (ENG) v [5] Diego Elias (PER)
[7] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP)
Henry Leung (HKG) v Ivan Yuen (MAS)
[I] Ryosei Kobayashi (JPN) v Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
Raphael Kandra (GER) v [14] Miguel Rodriguez (COL)
[11] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) v Nathan Lake (ENG)
Greg Lobban (SCO) v Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT)
Cesar Salazar (MEX) v Yahya Elnawasany (EGY)
Leonel Cardenas (MEX) v [2] Ali Farag (EGY)

Women’s Draw:
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v Enora Villard (FRA)
Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) v [25] Farida Mohamed (EGY)
[30] Rachel Arnold (MAS) v Coline Aumard (FRA)
[I] Karina Tyma (POL) v [13] Tesni Evans (WAL)
[12] Joshna Chinappa (IND) v [I] Katie Malliff (ENG)
Cindy Merlo (SUI) v [18] Emily Whitlock (WAL)
[26] Hana Ramadan (EGY) v Marie Stephan (FRA)
Millie Tomlinson (ENG) v [8] Rowan Elaraby (EGY)
[5] Joelle King (NZL) v Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG)
Yathreb Adel (EGY) v [27] Mariam Metwally (EGY)
[17] Olivia Clyne (USA) v Julianne Courtice (ENG)
Tze Lok Ho (HKG) v [15] Nada Abbas (EGY)
[11] Nele Gilis (BEL) v Emilia Soini (FIN)
Lisa Aitken (SCO) v [29] Donna Lobban (AUS)
[31] Alexandra Fuller (RSA) v [I] Marta Dominguez Fernandez (ESP)
Haley Mendez (USA) v [4] Amanda Sobhy (USA)
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v Sana Ibrahim (EGY)
[I] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) v [19] Lucy Turmel (ENG)
[20] Danielle Letourneau (CAN) v Anna Serme (CZE)
Milou van der Heijden (NED) v [9] Georgina Kennedy (ENG)
[14] Nadine Shahin (EGY) v Nicole Bunyan (CAN)
[I] Saskia Beinhard (GER) v [21] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)
[28] Aifa Azman (MAS) v Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Ineta Mackevica (LAT) v [7] Salma Hany (EGY)
[6] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v Chan Sin Yuk (HKG)
Zeina Mickawy (EGY) v [24] Melissa Alves (FRA)
[22] Sabrina Sobhy (USA) v Jana Shiha (EGY)
Ka Yi Lee (HKG) v [10] Olivia Fiechter (USA)
[16] Hollie Naughton (CAN) v [WC] Nardine Garas (EGY)
[Qualifier] v [23] Tinne Gilis (BEL)
[32] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v [WC] Kenzy Ayman (EGY)
Cristina Gomez (ESP) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)

Pictures courtesy of PSA