The upcoming 2021-22 PSA World Championships will become the richest professional squash tournament in history when the best squash players on the planet line up in Cairo, Egypt next month to battle for $1,100,000 in total player prize compensation, which is split equally amongst the male and female athletes.
Held between May 13-22, the PSA World Championships is the most prestigious tournament on the PSA World Tour and will be staged at the Club S Allegria between May 13-18, while a stunning all-glass court will be erected at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation from May 17 onwards, with action from the third round and beyond being held at that venue.
Coll tops men’s draw
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 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.
Nouran Gohar will top the women’s draw
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 winners of the tournament will take home approximately $80,000 in prize money – the largest winner’s total ever at a PSA event – while they will also qualify for June’s CIB PSA World Tour Finals, which brings together the reigning PSA World Champions, as well as the winners of all PSA World Tour Platinum events for a season-ending showpiece event, also held in Cairo.
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.
