The draws have been released for the 2023-24 CIB PSA World Championships with current World No.1s Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini set to headline the event which takes place between May 9-18 in Cairo, Egypt.
A glass show court will be erected at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation from the third round onwards, where Farag and ElSherbini claimed the titles back in 2022. Whilst all matches from the opening two rounds and selected third round matches will take place at the Palm Hills Club located in 6th of October city which will also have a glass court.
Men’s top seed Farag has been in amazing form this season, reaching the final in all 10 events that he has played and winning six titles, losing out to only Paul Coll and more recently Mostafa Asal. Farag has made the World Championships his own in recent years, last losing a match in the competition back in 2017, and boasts a current 24-match win streak at the World Championships. Farag will open his account against USA’s Todd Harrity.
New Zealand’s Coll is the second seed this year and will be desperate to continue his impressive form to realise his childhood dream of becoming World Champion. The 31-year-old has gotten the better of Farag three times this season which will give him great confidence heading into the biggest event on the calendar. Coll will take on Hong Kong’s Tsz Kwan Lau in the opening round.
Peru’s World No.3 Diego Elias is yet to reach the semi-finals of a World Championships so far in his career. He lost out to eventual runner-up Karim Abdel Gawad in the quarter-finals last year, a match-up that is set to repeat itself in this year’s event if results go to seeding. Elias will be determined to claim revenge over the Egyptian and record his best World Championships finish to date. Elias’ opening round fixture will be against the always entertaining Abdulla Al-Tamimi.
World No.4 and recent Black Ball Squash Open champion Mostafa Asal will be hoping to carry on his good form as he features in his fifth World Championships. The 22-year-old loves playing outside on home soil, capturing three World Tour Finals titles, all in Egypt on outdoor courts. He’ll be hoping that he can produce another week of quality squash to become the fourth youngest men’s World Champion of all time. He’ll be up against Spain’s Bernat Jaume in round one.
Three former World Champions feature in the 5/8 seeding positions in the men’s draw as Mohamed ElShorbagy, Karim Abdel Gawad and Tarek Momen will all be hopeful of claiming another World title. ElShorbagy took the title in 2017 but hasn’t been able to add another since then despite featuring in three finals. He is in the same quarter of the draw as No.2 seed Coll and will be looking to score a 15th win over the World No.2 to advance.
Women’s top seed Nour El Sherbini has dominated the World Championships over the past seven years, claiming six wins and one runner-up finish. That means that the Egyptian has won 47 of the last 48 matches at a PSA World Championships. The World No.1 will be looking to score a record-equalling eighth World Championship title in Cairo to draw level with Malaysian legend Nicol David. El Sherbini faces Australia’s Jessica Turnbull in her opening match in round one.
The No.2 seed for the event will be Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy. The World No.3 beat El Sherbini at the QTerminals Qatar Classic earlier in the season but has lost the last three encounters. El Hammamy will be determined to go one better than last year and reach a first World Championships final next month to set up a potential final with the World No.1 if all matches go to their seeding. El Hammamy is in the same half of the draw as World No.2 Nouran Gohar. Their rivalry hit new heights last season and if reignited in this year’s championships, is sure to be another intense battle.
No.3 seed Gohar has missed a large portion of the season due to injury but returned at the J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions, narrowly missing out on the title. The former World No.1 claimed her first silverware of the season at the Black Ball Squash Open and is heading into the back end of the season in good form, which is a worry for her higher seeded compatriots. She has recently reclaimed the World No.2 position but will be determined to chase down No.1 El Sherbini and claim a first World Championship title in the process.
Belgium’s Nele Gilis comes into this year’s World Championships at her highest seeding of No.4, seven positions higher than her seeding last year. The Belgian has spent the last six months occupying the World No.4 spot but is yet to score a victory in 2024 despite reaching two finals. Gilis is under pressure from the chasing pack to hold onto her World No.4 ranking and will be determined to assert herself in the sports biggest event.
The 5/8 seeds in the women’s draw are Nour El Tayeb, Georgina Kennedy, Tinne Gilis and Olivia Weaver. Egypt’s El Tayeb reached the final in 2019, while Kennedy is at her highest World Ranking to date at World No.6 and will be coming into the World Championships in great form after recently claiming another World Tour title at the German Open. USA’s Weaver is currently performing at the highest level of her career and will be determined to carry that on at the biggest stage, whilst Belgian No.2 Gilis will be looking to record her best finish at the championships as she eyes a quarter-final place.
Four players in each draw earned their spots by winning qualifying events around the globe. Czech’s Martin Svec and Spain’s Marta Dominguez took the Europe titles, Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue and Malaysia’s Yiwen Chan secured the Asia places, Moustafa Elsirty and Nardine Garas won the Africa events, Jospeh White and Alex Haydon qualified from the Oceania event whilst Spencer Lovejoy and Caroline Fouts won the Pan America tournaments.
All of the event action will be streamed live on SQUASHTV with action from the semi-finals and finals also being shown by PSA’s broadcast partners.
For more information on the PSA World Championships, visit the offical tournament website or follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Men’s Draw:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v Todd Harrity (USA)
Greg Lobban (SCO) v Wildcard
Adrian Waller (ENG) v Moustafa Elsirty (EGY)
Leandro Romiglio (ARG) v [15] Miguel Rodriguez (COL)
[11] Victor Crouin (FRA) v Andrew Douglas (USA)
Simon Herbert (ENG) v Leung Chi Hin Henry (HKG)
Karim El Hammamy (EGY) v Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN)
George Parker (ENG) v [8] Tarek Momen (EGY)
[5] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Timothy Brownell (USA)
Rory Stewart (SCO) v Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI)
Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) v Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY)
Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) v [14] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY)
[16] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) v Shahjahan Khan (USA)
Nick Wall (ENG) v Juan Camilo Vargas (COL)
Iker Pajares (ESP) v Nathan Lake (ENG)
Abdulla Al-Tamimi (QAT) v [3] Diego Elias (PER)
[4] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v Bernat Jaume (ESP)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v [I] Hamza Khan (PAK)
Curtis Malik (ENG) v Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
Raphael Kandra (GER) v [10] Joel Makin (WAL)
[12] Youssef Soliman (EGY) v Omar Mosaad (EGY)
Yahya Elnawasany (EGY) v Joseph White (AUS)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Lucas Serme (FRA)
Farkas Balazs (HUN) v [6] Mazen Hesham (EGY)
[7] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) v Martin Svec (CZE)
Ramit Tandon (IND) v Faraz Khan (USA)
David Baillargeon (CAN) v Fares Dessouky (EGY)
Auguste Dussourd (FRA) v [9] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG)
[13] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) v Eain Yow Ng (MAS)
Patrick Rooney (ENG) v Spencer Lovejoy (USA)
Cesar Salazar (MEX) v Leonel Cardenas (MEX)
Tsz Kwan Lau (HKG) v [2] Paul Coll (NZL)
Women’s Draw:
[1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) v Jessica Turnbull (AUS)
Nada Abbas (EGY) v Nardine Garas (EGY)
Tesni Murphy (WAL) v Enora Villard (FRA)
Ka Yi Lee (HKG) v [11] Amina Orfi (EGY)
[16] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v Jasmine Hutton (ENG)
Lucy Beecroft (ENG) v Cindy Merlo (SUI)
Millie Tomlinson (ENG) v Wildcard
Aifa Azman (MAS) v [7] Tinne Gilis (BEL)
[8] Olivia Weaver (USA) v Haya Ali (EGY)
Katie Malliff (ENG) v Yiwen Chan (MAS)
Hana Ramadan (EGY) v Alex Haydon (AUS)
Hollie Naughton (CAN) v [10] Salma Hany (EGY)
[13] Joelle King (NZL) v Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY)
Georgia Adderley (SCO) v Chan Sin Yuk (HKG)
Torrie Malik (ENG) v Sana Ibrahim (EGY)
Marina Stefanoni (USA) v [4] Nele Gilis (BEL)
[3] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v Emilia Soini (FIN)
Hana Moataz (EGY) v Nadine Shahin (EGY)
Kenzy Ayman (EGY) v Salma Eltayeb (EGY)
Alicia Mead (ENG) v [12] Sabrina Sobhy (USA)
[14] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) v Emily Whitlock (WAL)
Ainaa Amani (MAS) v Marie Stephan (FRA)
Mariam Metwally (EGY) v Zeina Mickawy (EGY)
Tomato Ho (HKG) v [5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
[6] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) v Rachel Arnold (MAS)
Aira Azman (MAS) v Marta Dominguez (ESP)
Malak Khafagy (EGY) v Grace Gear (ENG)
Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG) v [9] Rowan Elaraby (EGY)
[15] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) v Ineta Hopton (LAT)
Nicole Bunyan (CAN) v Caroline Fouts (USA)
Melissa Alves (FRA) v Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY)
Lucy Turmel (ENG) v [2
