Egypt's Karim Abdel-Gawwad is the 2018 CIB Black Ball Squash Open champion. In an all-Egyptian final, the 26-year-old Abdel-Gawwad beat fellow countryman Ali Farag 3-1 (11-6, 13-11, 7-11, 11-8) in just 62 minutes to claim the title. The one-week event was held by the Black Ball Club in New Cairo. The $180,500 prize money is part of the first major platinum tournament to take place in Egypt's capital since the men's 2016 PSA World Championships. The achievement was Alexandria-born Abdel-Gawwad's first at a PSA Platinum event since the 2017 Tournament of Champions. The world No 7 Abdel-Gawwad displayed his best-ever squash, showing enthusiasm, power, stamina and a serious intention to snatch the title from his opponents, whom he beat one after the other throughout the week. En route to the final, he knocked out great Egyptian champions, including the world No 1 Mohamed Al-Shorbagi, world No 4 Tarek Momen and finally the world No 2 Farag. Abdel-Gawwad also took home over $25,000 in prize money after he claimed his 20th PSA title. Farag lost the opportunity to take over the No 1 slot from world champion Al-Shorbagi. Had he beat Abdel-Gawwad, he would have topped the PSA ranking in January. Unfortunately, Abdel-Gawwad denied Farag the honour. The final witnessed a high spectator turn-out at the main court of the Black Ball Club. Tickets were sold out immediately after both semi-final matches. Amidst the support of the home crowd, Abdel-Gawwad won the first two sets 11-6, 13-11. As the third set began, Farag took his opponent by surprise as he came out fighting to take four points without reply to build a strong lead, with the world No 2 also being able to hold off a late rush from Abdel-Gawwad. But, it was too late for the eventual winner to catch up. Farag denied Abdel-Gawwad an early celebration as he took the third set 11-7 to get a foothold back into the match. According to the PSA world tour Website, it wasn't meant to be for the world No 2 as the wait to climb to the top of the world rankings continued after Abdel-Gawwad held his nerve to ensure that he claimed his second successive title after winning the Pakistan Open PSA Bronze tournament last week. Abdel-Gawad and Farag “I had so many times where I was down,” Abdel-Gawwad told the PSA official Website following his stunning win. “All those months, all those days, I pushed and pushed. There were bad times, really bad times, but my team handled those bad moments. It finally paid off this week, and I'm back to my form. “I wasn't 100 per cent there physically but thanks to my team, I had a good recovery until 4am this morning and I didn't feel exhausted today. “It's been a very tough tournament, especially for me as I've not been playing at this level for so long now, and to be back and winning this major tournament means a lot to me. “I've been working so hard to try and get back to my form that I used to play and I'm really happy to be back and end the year with a major tournament. “Ali is my brother. We've grown up together and we've played so many times at juniors. He has been handling so much pressure this week and I've been there before, so I know how he feels. I had two or three times to become world No 1 and I kept losing every time, so I know how hard it is but sooner or later he will be world No 1 because he's very consistent,” Abdel-Gawwad said. Runner-up Farag also had his say after the game, describing his opponent as the best player in the tournament. “Karim was by far the best player all week. He thoroughly deserved that win. Karim was a world No 1 deservedly and he had a bit of a dip in his form last season because of some injuries but he very much deserves to be where he is today. I'm really happy for him and his team.” The tournament's closing ceremony had started before the final, with the arrival of Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhi, Hussein Abaza and Amr Al-Ganaini, representing CIB, the tournament's main sponsor; Chairman of Black Ball for Investment and Sports Development Company Ahmed Al-Abd, President of the Egyptian Squash Federation Assem Khalifa, CEO of Black Ball and tournament director Mohamed Raef and Ashraf Hanafi, Black Ball squash director. Raef signs India's Ghosal to Black Ball Raef said Black Ball Club will start immediately to prepare to host the Black Ball Women's Squash Tournament in March next year whereas Al-Abd said the club is seeking the PSA's approval to register the championship as an annual Platinum squash tournament in their calendar. On the other hand, on Tuesday, Raef, CEO of the Black Ball Sporting Club, signed a new contract with India's World No 12 Saurav Ghosal to join the club and represent Black Ball globally in the upcoming years. The one-week event saw the participation of 48 players representing England, Germany, France, Switzerland, Scotland, Spain, Colombia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Peru, Australia, Hong Kong, Mexico, the US, Malaysia, Wales and Egypt. Three international referees from the World Squash Federation officiated the matches. The next Platinum tournament will be the J P Morgan Tournament of Champions, a joint men's and women's event taking place in New York from 16-24 January, 2019.
