World No.1s Mostafa Asal and Nouran Gohar captured the inaugural Palm Hills Squash Open titles after respective triumphs over Karim Abdel Gawad and Satomi Watanabe at Golf Central Mall in Cairo.
Recently crowned World Champion Asal stretched his winning run on the PSA Squash Tour to 19 matches – his fourth straight title victory – with a hard-fought four-game victory over No.3 seed Gawad.
The Egyptian duo put on a spectacular showing for the packed home crowd, but it was recently crowned World Champion Asal who eventually came through by a 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 scoreline after 73 minutes of high-quality play.
After the match, Asal said: “Yeah, it’s very special for me to be honest, playing in front of my home crowd, playing in my club.
“[Karim] is an absolute legend, on and off court, he’s just an amazing guy, amazing personality, I want to thank him for everything he has done for me, since I was very, very young.
“I remember he was the first one, when my mother and father were asking every pro to come and play with Mostafa, since I was 10 or 11 years old. Karim was the first one, all credit for Karim, he is a legend for our sport, so yeah it was just an amazing battle today.”
Meanwhile, Gohar captured her sixth title of the 2024/25 season with a near-faultless three-game win over No.3 seed Watanabe, taking the match by an 11-5, 11-5, 11-4 scoreline.
After overturning an early 5-1 deficit in the first game, Gohar dominated proceedings on the spectacular all-glass court, moving through to take the 34th PSA Tour title of her career after just 38 minutes of play.
After the match, Gohar said: “I mean it’s my home crowd, right! I felt extremely happy to be competing, seriously, I have played many finals, over 60 finals, but today felt very special.
“Thank you, Palm Hills, for everything. They do an incredible job, it’s on the highest level, you see this, this is a Gold event, and this should be a World Championship, so Palm Hills keep bringing the high standard. I am just lucky to be a part of this and hopefully I can keep going and playing like this”
Result: Men’s Final – Palm Hills Squash Open 2025
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [3] Karim Gawad (EGY) 3-1: 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 (73m)
Result: Women’s Final – Palm Hills Squash Open 2025
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [3] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-4 (38m)