The curtain falls on El Gouna International Squash Open 2021 as world number 2, Mohamed El Shorbagy claimed the Men’s title, while Nour El Sherbiny won first place in the Women’s tournament. The finals were held for the first time at El Gouna Conference and Culture Center (GCCC) in El Gouna, Orascom Development’s flagship town.
El Shorbagy, won the Men’s tournament after defeating his opponent Paul Coll, with a score of 3/0. While world number 1 Nour El Sherbiny claimed the women’s tournament after defeating her compatriot Nouran Gohar, with a score of 3/0.
Speaking at the event was Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Egyptian Minister of Youth and Sports, who stated: “It is a great honor to have these tournaments in Egypt.” He further thanked all those who helped hosting this tournament, and all the Egyptian players who participated in the tournament, emphasizing that this is a success story for Egyptian squash.
On this event, Ahmed Youssef, CEO of The Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority stated: “We are proud to sponsor El Gouna International Squash Open for the 9th year in a row since its initial launch. We highly appreciate the role that the town of El Gouna plays to be able to host an international tournament in such exceptional circumstances, while following all precautionary measures, that Egypt was able to apply in other major events during the previous period, such as the World Men's Handball Championship, and the Pharaohs' Golden Parade. Such events are a great opportunity to promote Egyptian tourism, and showing the true potential of Egypt in organizing such international events.”
Eng. Samih Sawiris, Founder of El Gouna expressed his happiness on the great success achieved in the tournament, at this particular time, especially that it was held for the first time at the GCCC, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. He stated: “I am very proud that El Gouna has become a hub for culture, sports and arts, through international events such as El Gouna International Squash Open, which allows us to create a different kind of cultural dialogue.” He also congratulated the champions of this tournament, and was very happy that Egyptian players were able to win the title, and assert their dominance on the sport.
Eng. Omar El Hamamsy, Group CEO of Orascom Development Holding, expressed his appreciation in hosting this successful event this year, especially that the tournament was held amidst great preventive and precautionary measures. He added that El Gouna and all the organizing teams have been working tirelessly since the start of the tournament in 2010, which led El Gouna International Squash Open to become one of the most important platinum events for the Professional Squash Association (PSA).
Amr Mansi, founder of the El Gouna International Squash Championship and CEO of I-Events, the organizing company of the tournament, said that the tournament this year was above any expectations. The tournament witnessed a series of matches that caught the audiences’ eyes because of the remarkable performance of the players. He emphasized on the final match between El Shorbagy and Makin, which came after a strong competition, that lasted for 158 minutes, becoming the 3rd ever longest squash game in history.
He also praised the infrastructure and El Gouna’s ability to host and organize many large sporting tournaments as well as various forums due to the great development of El Gouna in the past years. Additionally, he mentioned the success of applying the strict precautionary measures and the ‘Medical Bubble’ concept during the tournament, providing a safe environment for the players participating in the tournament.
It is worth mentioning that the tournament this year has achieved great success and received great media resonance in all local and international media. The tournament featured the top 96 squash players from 21 countries around the world to compete for a prize pool of USD 300,000 equally pided between the professional men and women participating. The tournament witnessed a series of interesting matches, as the Egyptian players led the first and second rounds, while 16 of them made it to the third round, in which 32 players had participated, and their dominance resumed in later stages where 6 players reached the semi-finals.
Contributed By Alaa Ahmed
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