International Squash Magazine – March 2019

More documents

Recommendations

Info

PSA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS level the match at one game apiece; however a crucial third game went to Farag 13-11 in a tense tie-break that proved pivotal as the 26-year-old powered to victory in the fifth game to write his name into the history books. “As I stand here today, I can’t help but think about the road I’ve taken to be here,” said Harvard-graduate Farag following the biggest win of his career. “If, five years back, you had told me that I would be standing here holding the World Championship trophy, then no chance would I have believed you. As a senior at college, I never thought about going pro and the main driving force behind it is Nour. It sounds like a cliché, but find someone who lifts you up day in and day out, I’m deeply blessed to have her in my life, and she is the one who pushed me to go pro. “Winning the World Championships is one thing but winning it in front of this crowd is something else. Thanks to the Walter Family, it’s the biggest prize purse that’s ever been on offer in squash and it’s a huge honour.” Farag’s win came shortly after wife El Tayeb was beaten in the women’s final by Nour El Sherbini who captured her third World Championship crown at the age of just 23. Appearing in her fourth successive World Championship final, and fifth overall, El Sherbini dominated the opening stages against a nervous El Tayeb to go two games up in just 18 minutes. El Tayeb and Farag became the first married couple in sporting history to lift the same major sports title on the same day when they won the 2017 U.S. Open, and El Tayeb kept hopes alive of bettering that achievement when she battled back with a vengeance to halve the deficit, recovering from championship ball down in the process. But El Sherbini edged a tense tie-break in the fourth to finally end her rival’s resistance and become the fifth woman to lift three World Championship titles after Malaysia’s Nicol David, New Zealand’s Susan Devoy and Australia’s Sarah Fitz-Gerald and Michelle Martin. “I think I’m out of words,” said El Sherbini. “The last two games were really close, and she was coming back. I think she likes it like that, she was a little bit tense in the first two games and then she started to relax. I was trying to focus point after point and I’m really happy of course. “It was a really tough tournament for me and a lot of things happened before I came here and behind the scenes. But I’m really glad that I came because one of the options was that I wouldn’t be able to come. I was improving match after match, and I had a lot of tough matches in the earlier rounds, but I’m really glad that I managed to get everything together this week.” The 2018-2019 PSA World Championships were the sport’s first $1 million tournament with $500,000 split equally between the male and female athletes - ensuring that Farag and El Sherbini each collected over $70,000 in prize money representing the largest amount of prize winnings in the history of professional squash. 06 | March 2019 INTERNATIONALSQUASHMAGAZINE www.isportgroup.com/InternationalSquashMagazine
PSA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Winning the World Championships is one thing but winning it in front of this crowd is something else. Thanks to the Walter Family, it’s the biggest prize purse that’s ever been on offer in squash and it’s a huge honour ALI FARAG 2018-2019 PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family Men’s Final: [2] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [4] Tarek Momen (EGY) 3-1: 11-5, 11-13, 13-11, 11-3 Women’s Final: [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) 3-1: 11-6, 11-5, 10-12, 15-13 INTERNATIONALSQUASHMAGAZINE March 2019 | 07 www.isportgroup.com/InternationalSquashMagazine
Page 1: INTERNATIONAL MARCH | 2019 ISSN 204
Page 5: PSA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ALIFARAG&NO
Page 9 and 10: AJ BELL BRITISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSH
Page 11 and 12: AJ BELL BRITISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSH
Page 13: NICOL DAVID ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT FO
Page 16 and 17: THE BIG PICTURE: ALI FARAG BECOMES
Page 18 and 19: COACHING & INSTRUCTION: COACHING LE
Page 20 and 21: ASB GLASS - WHAT MAKES THE DIFFEREN
Page 22 and 23: J.P. MORGAN TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
Page 24 and 25: MORE THAN BUILDING FOUR WALLS EXPER
Page 27 and 28: SQUASH DENIED 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES IN
Page 29 and 30: MEN’S PSA WORLD RANKINGS EGYPT 1

International Squash Magazine – March 2019

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?