The draws for the 2024-2025 PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family have been released as the biggest prize in professional squash is once again up for grabs in Chicago between May 9-17.
An all-glass court will be erected at Lakeshore Sport & Fitness, featuring the richest prize purse in the history of professional squash, with more than $1,300,000 of total player compensation up for grabs. As well as Lakeshore Sport & Fitness, the University of Club of Chicago – which has hosted the Windy City Open since 1982 – will host matches from round one of the tournament.
Men’s World No.1 Ali Farag has the chance to move to outright third in the all-time list of World Champions if he can claim his fifth World title this season. Farag has fond memories of Chicago, winning in five of his last six appearances in the Windy City, three of which were World Championship victories. He’s situated at the top of the draw, in the same half as No.3 seed Diego Elias, the defending champion.
Elias will be looking to capture his second World Championship title after his impressive win last season in Cairo. He has had a slightly inconsistent season so far, claiming just one major event title, back in October at the Qatar Classic. He’ll be hoping to find his top form in Chicago to continue his reign as World Champion.
Last year’s runner-up Mostafa Asal is situated at the bottom of the draw as the No.2 seed looks to go one better this year and claim the coveted title. Asal has already squandered chances to return to World No.1 but may sit at the top of the tree before the World Championships get underway. He’s in the same quarter as 2016 World Champion Karim Gawad but both will need to come through tricky tests in order to set up that mouth-watering last eight clash.
Several other players in the men’s draw will be looking to have their say in the biggest event on the calendar. Former champions Mohamed Elshorbagy and Tarek Momen have played in a combined 31 World Championships throughout their careers and will look to use that experience to upset the seedings once again. Other top eight seeds Paul Coll and Joel Makin are renowned as being two of the fittest players in the game and will be looking to outlast the rest and scoop up the top prize.
After getting her hands on her first World Championship trophy last season, Nouran Gohar has set herself up for a strong title defence as the championships roll back around in this campaign. ‘The Terminator’ has played in nine events since becoming World Champion, reaching the final in all of them and winning five. After securing a somewhat comfortable lead at the top of the PSA World Rankings, Gohar will not want to surrender her World Champion status by any means.
Drawn in the same half as top seed Gohar is World No.3 Hania El Hammamy. The rivalry between Gohar and El Hammamy has reached boiling point a few times on the PSA Squash Tour, and with a place in the final up for grabs if the pair reach the final four, this could spark another epic between the two. El Hammamy has reignited her season since the turn of the year, reaching back to back finals and claiming a first J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions title. This could be the year for the 24-year-old.
One player that you can never write off in a World Championships is seven-time winner and No.2 seed Nour ElSherbini. The 29-year-old has made the competition her own in recent years and will be hopeful of returning to that form to draw level with a legend of the game in Nicol David on eight titles. ElSherbini claimed the first three major titles of the season but has struggled to convert since then and remains trophy-less since October, something that she isn’t used to. The biggest event in squash tends to bring out the best in ElSherbini and the Chicago crowd will certainly be hoping to see her play to her full capability once again.
No.4 seed and leading home player Olivia Weaver sits in the same half as ElSherbini as she looks to make the home advantage count and upset the seedings. Weaver has been very impressive this season, setting herself apart from ‘the chasing pack’ to cement her position as World No.4, claiming three titles along the way. The Philadelphia local recently claimed the Australian Open title in Brisbane, beating World No.5 Amina Orfi in the final in strong style. The American sits in the same quarter as dangerous Malaysian Sivasangari Subramaniam, who beat Weaver as recently as February. If Weaver is to progress from that potential quarter final clash, a first win over a ‘big three’ player couldn’t come at a better place than a home World Championships.
As well as Orfi and Sivasangari, Georgina Kennedy and Tinne Gilis make up the rest of the top eight seeded positions as they all look to achieve their seedings and set up fixtures against the dominant top four seeds. Orfi and Subramaniam are the only players in that group to score wins over the leading trio of Egyptians and will be hoping to strike again back in the Windy City.
Five players will earn their spots in this year’s World Championships by qualifying through specific events taking place around the globe. A male and female player will qualify from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania qualifying events. The events will feature 16 players battling for the spot across four days. The first qualifying event gets underway on the 7th April in Mossel Bay, South Africa.
Action from the PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family will be shown live on SQUASHTV. The semi-finals and finals will be shown live by PSA’s broadcast partners.
Tickets are on sale now and are available for purchase
Men’s draw:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v Bernat Jaume (ESP)
[26] Declan James (ENG) v WCQ Asia
[18] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) v WCQ Africa
[10] Mazen Hesham (EGY) v WCQ Oceania
[16] Fares Dessouky (EGY) v Leandro Romiglio (ARG)
[29] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v Jonah Bryant (ENG)
[20] Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Rui Soares (POR)
[6] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Adrian Waller (ENG)
[5] Joel Makin (WAL) v Karim El Hammamy (EGY)
[23] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) v Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN)
[30] Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) v Omar Mosaad (EGY)
[11] Youssef Soliman (EGY) v Raphael Kandra (GER)
[14] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) v Yahya Elnawasany (EGY)
[25] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Abhay Singh (IND)
[21] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) v Balazs Farkas (HUN)
[3] Diego Elias (PER) v Velavan Senthilkumar (IND)
[4] Paul Coll (NZL) v Henry Leung (HKG)
[31] Iker Pajares (ESP) v WCQ Europe
[24] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) v Alex Lau (HKG)
[15] Victor Crouin (FRA) v Juan Vargas (COL)
[9] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) v George Parker (ENG)
[32] Timothy Brownell (USA) v Ramit Tandon (IND)
[27] Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) v Rory Stewart (SCO)
[8] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) v Nathan Lake (ENG)
[7] Karim Gawad (EGY) v Simon Herbert (ENG)
[22] Abdulla Al-Tamimi (QAT) v Wildcard
[19] Greg Lobban (SCO) v WCQ Pan America
[13] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) v Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI)
[12] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) v Patrick Rooney (ENG)
[28] Auguste Dussourd (FRA) v Curtis Malik (ENG)
[17] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) v [WC] Qualifier
[2] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v Nick Wall (ENG)
Women’s draw:
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v Nadine Shahin (EGY)
[28] Malak Khafagy (EGY) v Mariam Metwally (EGY)
[24] Katie Malliff (ENG) v WCQ Asia
[13] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) v Hana Moataz (EGY)
[11] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) v Cindy Merlo (SUI)
[21] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG)
[22] Tesni Murphy (WAL) v Alicia Mead (ENG)
[6] Tinne Gilis (BEL) v Marie Stephan
[5] Amina Orfi (EGY) v Haya Ali (EGY)
[18] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v [WC] Qualifier
[19] Melissa Alves (FRA) v Salma Eltayeb (EGY)
[14] Nada Abbas (EGY) v WCQ Pan America
[10] Nele Gilis-Coll (BEL) v Ka Yi Lee (HKG)
[25] Tomato Ho (HKG) v Emily Whitlock (WAL)
[26] Lucy Turmel (ENG) v Grace Gear (ENG)
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY)
[4] Olivia Weaver (USA) v Aifa Azman (MAS)
[20] Rachel Arnold (MAS) v Nour Heikal (EGY)
[27] Aira Azman (MAS) v Torrie Malik (ENG
[12] Salma Hany (EGY) v Menna Hamed (EGY)
[15] Amanda Sobhy (USA) v Ainaa Amani (MAS)
[31] Zeina Mickawy (EGY) v Kenzy Ayman (EGY)
[17] Sana Ibrahim (EGY) v Sabrina Sobhy (USA)
[7] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) v Wildcard
[8] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) v WCQ Oceania
[23] Georgia Adderley (SCO) v Lucy Beecroft (ENG)
[32] Lisa Aitken (SCO) v WCQ Africa
[9] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) v Marina Stefanoni (USA)
[16] Farida Mohamed (EGY) v Nicole Bunyan (CAN)
[30] Hana Ramadan (EGY) v Saran Nghiem (ENG)
[29] Hollie Naughton (CAN) v Nardine Garas (EGY)
[2] Nour ElSherbini (Egy) v WCQ Europe
For more information on the PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family,
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