The CIB Egyptian Open became professional squash’s first Diamond-tier event in Giza.
This has been the first major title on offer during the 2024-25 professional season, with a 48-man and 48-woman draw battling for the trophy and a share of the $631,000 prize fund.
As a Diamond tier event, the Egyptian Open featured 32-player three-day qualifying draws, with four players from each qualifying draw winning through to the main draws.
Green in view
As with many Egyptian hosted events, there have been an array of empty seats on view. Not a great sight for the sport. As ever, the back end of the tournament has seen more in attendance, but the sport must do more to ensure tournament organisers give more time to reversing the trend. It is not a good look on TV — or for potential sponsors.
Floor panel
With sponsors CIB owning the court, the quarter-finals were moved to the indoor courts after a side floor panel came loose during the Paul Coll v Marwan ElShorbagy match and court specialists saying that a two-hour delay would ensue before any play could resume.
Retirements to the fore
There were six retirees during the Egyptian Open…
I feel like for the first tournament of the season, there has been a lot of last minute player withdrawals due to injury, retirements in the match due to injury, & players held together by KT tape. Maybe there hasn’t been enough of a break between seasons? 🤷🏽♀️
— Amanda Sobhy (@itssobhytime) September 5, 2024
‘It’s been a nightmare’
Unseeded Nada Abbas reached her first major semi-final in Giza. During her run to the last four, she also revealed the hardships of tour life in a concerning quote.
“The past two years have been nightmare for me. I’ve been struggling from so many things because of squash. I’ve been struggling from depression and anxiety and insomnia because of squash, so it’s a really nice reward to feel that everything is paying off and I’m actually winning and reaching very far in big tournaments.”
What they said…
For all the controversy at the season-opener, it was refreshing to hear the words of Ali Farag, the world No.1, as he set up a final showdown with Mostafa Asal…
“I can’t be more grateful to be playing the sport I love in front of amazing people and against such great players, who are so skilful with the racket and move so smoothly on court.”
Stat Attack
Nour El Sherbini won her 500th world tour match by beating Hania El Hammamy for a berth in the women’s final.