Egyptian teenagers Adam Hawal and Ruqayya Salem have qualified for the 2025/26 CIB Palm Hills PSA World Championships after clinching victory in their respective finals of the Africa qualifying event in Cairo.
The two players booked their spots in the flagship PSA Squash Tour event for the very first time after Hawal fought back from 2-1 down to defeat No.2 seed Yassin Shohdy and Salem dispatched No.4 seed Farida Walid in straight games.
No.5 seed Hawal, who earlier this year stunned the squash world by defeating World No.2 Paul Coll at the Egyptian Open, continued to display his future potential as he completed his impressive week in which he defeated both the No.2 and No.3 seeds. 
In the final, it was World No.70 Shohdy who looked to be on his way to victory when he sat at 2-1 up and 9-9 in the fourth, but 17-year-old Hawal showed great composure to clinch the fourth game with two consecutive points and move through to victory by an 11-6, 6-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 scoreline.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Salem completed her commanding week in which she dropped just one game after downing Walid by an 11-6, 11-4, 11-4 scoreline.
The World No.71 picked up where she left off from her three-game semi-final victory over Nour Khafagy with a dominant win over World No.69 Walid, not once falling behind on the scoreboard throughout the entirety of the match and easing through to victory after 32 minutes of play.
Both players are now set to feature in this year’s CIB Palm Hills PSA World Championships 2025/26, which will take place between 8-16 May and be available to watch live on SQUASHTV. 
