17 Egyptians in galaxy of stars in Cairo
By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent
The world’s best female players will appear at the 2020 CIB Black Ball Squash Open between March 8-14, with the tournament being upgraded to a PSA World Tour Platinum event this season.
With 17 Egyptians in the draw, this year’s seeding is headed up by Egypt’s World No.1 Raneem El Welily, who defeated World Champion Nour El Sherbini at the Black Ball Sporting Club to win the inaugural women’s title in 2019.
World No.2 Nouran Gohar and World No.5 Nour El Tayeb are the other two Egyptian players in the hunt for the trophy, and the winner’s share of the $180,500 total prize fund.
Aiming to fend off the local players will be Tournament of Champions winner Camille Serme, New Zealand’s Joelle King, England’s Sarah-Jane Perry and United States No.1 Amanda Sobhy.
Meanwhile, 16-year-old Nour Aboulmakarim and 25-year-old Salma Youssef have been named as the tournament wildcards.
In addition to the trophy, the winner of the tournament will also qualify for the season-ending PSA World Tour Finals. The World Tour Finals brings together the world’s top eight male and female players and features the reigning World Champions as well as all PSA Platinum title winners.
The other places will be allocated to the highest ranked players on the Road to Egypt Standings, with points on offer at all PSA World Tour events throughout the 2019/20 season.
Action from the glass court stages at Black Ball Sporting Club will be shown live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour (excluding Europe & Japan).
Tickets for the event will be released on Saturday February 15. In the meantime, fans can stay up-to-date will all the latest news from the tournament by visiting blackballsquashopen.com or following the Black Ball Open on Twitter.
PSA $180,000 Platinum Women’s CIB Black Ball Open, Black Ball Sporting Club, Cairo, Egypt, March 8-14.
Entry List:
1) Raneem El Welily (EGY)
2) Nouran Gohar (EGY)
3) Camille Serme (FRA)
4) Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
5) Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
6) Joelle King (NZL)
7) Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
8) Amanda Sobhy (USA)
9) Tesni Evans (WAL)
10) Hania El Hammamy (EGY)
11) Annie Au (HKG)
12) Joshna Chinappa (IND)
13) Salma Hany (EGY)
14) Alison Waters (ENG)
15) Victoria Lust (ENG)
16) Yathreb Adel (EGY)
17) Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA)
18) Nele Gilis (BEL)
19) Nadine Shahin (EGY)
20) Rowan Elaraby (EGY)
21) Tinne Gilis (BEL)
22) Joey Chan (HKG)
23) Zeina Mickawy (EGY)
24) Emily Whitlock (ENG)
25) Millie Tomlinson (ENG)
26) Nada Abbas (EGY)
27) Rachael Grinham (AUS)
28) Hollie Naughton (CAN)
29) Sabrina Sobhy (USA)
30) Mariam Metwally (EGY)
31) Coline Aumard (FRA)
32) Melissa Alves (FRA)
33) Donna Lobban (AUS)
34) Alexandra Fuller (RSA)
35) Lisa Aitken (SCO)
36) Mayar Hany (EGY)
37) Rachel Arnold (MAS)
38) Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG)
39) Tze Lok Ho (HKG)
40) Lucy Turmel (ENG)
41) Jasmine Hutton (ENG)
42) Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG)
43) Farida Mohamed (EGY)
44) Enora Villard (FRA)
45) Menna Nasser (EGY)
46) Rachael Chadwick (ENG)
Wildcard 1) Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY)
Wildcard 2) Salma Youssef (EGY)
Pictures courtesy of PSA and Black Ball Sporting Club