‘We all love playing in Dubai and I’m excited about the new venue’
By ELLIE MAWSON
Egypt’s World No.1 Nour El Sherbini has insisted there is no pressure on her ahead of the season-ending ATCO PSA Dubai World Series Finals which takes place June 5-9 at the Emirates Golf Club.
The Egyptian, who finished top of the World Series Standings after claiming four World Series titles this season, has been a force to be reckoned with on the Women’s Tour and will be hot favourite to take the title in Dubai.
El Sherbini (right) finished runner-up to England’s Laura Massaro at last year’s tournament held at Dubai Opera and the 22-year-old is hoping to go one better this year as she looks to claim her first World Series Finals crown.
“I’m really excited to have qualified for Dubai,” said Alexandria-born El Sherbini. “I see it as a rewarding tournament for us after a long season, it’s always good. Dubai is nice and we all enjoy our time there.
“Playing against the top eight players is tough but I’m really excited to go back to Dubai and hopefully the tournament will be good.
“It’s the last tournament of the season so you always want to keep playing and winning but you don’t know what will happen. You just play and try to enjoy it rather than putting pressure on yourself.
“Two years ago, I lost in the semis and then last year I lost in the final, so maybe this year I can go all the way.”
This season’s tournament will be held at the Emirates Golf Club and El Sherbini is looking forward to being able to play in another exciting venue.
“Every year we have a new venue, a bigger one, and more people are coming,” said the 22-year-old.
“Having it in Dubai is good because we have local people coming and watching us. I’m excited for the new venue and hopefully it can be even better than the year before.”
The World Series Finals will feature a unique best of three games format throughout the group stages before reverting back to the traditional best of five format for semi-finals and final.
Group stage matches will take place at 3:00pm, 3:45pm, 4:30pm and 5:15pm (Group B) and 8:00pm, 8:45pm, 9:30pm and 10:15pm (Group A) between June 5-7 with the semi-finals due to take place from 8:00pm on June 8. The finals will commence at 8:00pm local time on June 9.
Every match from the tournament will be shown live on SQUASHTV (Rest of World) and Eurosport Player (Europe only), while the semi-finals and finals will be broadcast live on mainstream channels across the globe, including BT Sport, beIN Sports, Fox Sports Australia and Astro.
Tickets for the World Series Finals can be purchased here:
Tournament website: www.worldseriesfinals.com
Article by ELLIE MAWSON (PSA Media team). Edited by ALAN THATCHER
Pictures by PATRICK LAUSON and PSA