Incredible. After coming through more than 200 pressure-filled minutes over her last two matches, Amina Orfi became women’s world champion for the first time on Saturday – the youngest to do so in history.
In beating Nour ElSherbini, who was gunning for a record ninth title to surpass Nicol David, the 18-year-old (and 10 months) Orfi etched her own name into the record books as she upgraded her world junior title in thrilling circumstances with a 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 14-12 scoreline victory over 106 minutes. The fearless Egyptian is the first player to hold both titles at the same time.
There’s more. As she won a let with a piercing winner to the backhand which left ElSherbini scampering – after both had held match balls in a fifth game surpassing the 30-minute mark – the match broke the longest women’s World Championship match in history under PAR 11 scoring and the eighth longest professional women’s squash match of all time.
“I’m speechless, I worked so hard to get here,” said Orfi after capturing her 12th PSA title and followed her 103-minute semi-final victory over world No.1 Hania El Hammamy
“This will add so much to my confidence. I’m speechless, I worked so hard and had so many tough losses this season. Up until this tournament, I was satisfied with what I had done, but I knew I could do better.
“I knew there was going to be pressure on both of them [El Hammamy and ElSherbini], Hania being World No.1 and Nour being a title away from breaking the record. I knew I had the least pressure and I went for it. I’m just so happy.”
Meanwhile, Mostafa Asal retained his title after a commanding victory over No.7 seed Youssef Ibrahim, winning 11-4, 11-1, 12-10.
Ibrahim was appearing in his maiden World Championship final after battling past No.2 seed Paul Coll and No.4 seed Karim Abdel Gawad in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, despite his impending shoulder surgery next week.
However, the match against Asal was a step too far for the 27-year-old, who was unable to live with the pace and accuracy of the World No.1. Asal now has two World Championship titles to his name, while it is the 29th PSA Squash Tour title of his career.
“It feels amazing to win the World Championships in front of your family and friends,” Asal said afterwards.
“Credit to Youssef Ibrahim. To even be playing here with his shoulder injury, he’s superhuman. He’s a good friend of mine and we grew up together.
“It’s so hard, I got edgy in the third game, the pressure was on for sure. It’s never easy playing in Egypt to defend a world title. There’s so much pressure playing in front of everyone here.”
This was the ninth time since 2015 that Egyptian men and women had held the world titles at the same time.
Result – Men’s Final: 2026 CIB Palm Hills PSA World Championships
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [7] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-1, 12-10 (56m)
Result – Women’s Final: 2026 CIB Palm Hills PSA World Championships
[3] Amina Orfi (EGY) bt [2] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) 3-2: 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 14-12 (106m)