CHENNAI (India), July 23, 2018 (News Wires) - With four match-points in her pocket in the third game, Egypt's Rawan Araby, the top seed, was already "thinking of winning the title." at the World Junior Squash Championships on Monday. Fortunately, the lapse in concentration didn't prove too costly as the defending champion came back to win the final in four games against second seed and compatriot Hania El Hammamy 11-4, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9 in an hour and five minutes. Mostafa Asal, the second seed, as expected, played a dazzling game to beat the defending champion and top seed Marwan Tarek to emerge a clear-cut 11-7, 13-11, 11-4 winner in the boys' final in 46 minutes. Dominating the rallies with a wonderful attacking game, Araby was on the brink of winning the match. Leading 10-6 in the third game, Araby wilted and El Hammamy, who was till then a shaky opponent, started to play aggressively and it yielded dividends. On her game-point at 11-10, Hammamy was awarded a stroke and the second seed went on to bag the third game. The fourth was fought tooth and nail. El Hammamy took a 9-7 lead only to see Araby roar back, winning the next four points with a mixture of delectable drop shots and backhand down-the-line-winners. "I freaked out actually. I started thinking about the title [in the third game]. But I stuck to the game plan and it went my way. "It was one of my toughest matches of the tournament," said Araby. Asal paced his game quite well. As the match progressed, the 17-year-old, ranked 71 in the world with three PSA men's titles, raised his level of play. Tarek showed the semblance of a fight in the second game. In fact, the top seed saved three match-points from 10-7 and had game-point at 11-10, but Asal again upped his game. "It feels exciting to be a World champion [for the first time]. I want to thank my coaches and parents who supported me throughout," said Asal. "I want to be in the top 40 in men's by next year." PSA announce record prize money The Professional Squash Association (PSA) on Monday announced that a record level of prize money was available on the PSA World Tour during the 2017/18 season, with total financial compensation reaching $6.4 million – an 11% increase on the previous season. The pay gap between female and male players dropped by almost a third last season, with total prize money on the women's tour totalling $2,599,000 million – a 31% increase compared to 2016/17 – while the men's has increased to $3,820,000. This trend is reflected in both the men's and women's top earners. The top earning female player on the PSA World Tour earned $218,814 last season – a 93% increase since the PSA and Women's Squash Association (WSA) merged in 2015 to create a unified governing body. The top earning male player earned $278,231 last season, which has increased 72% over the past three seasons. There have also been vast prize money increases for the world's top 25 ranked players across both the men's and women's tours during this period, with average earnings rising by 37% in the men's and 63% in the women's. The prize money was split across 227 events (146 men and 81 women) in a total of 47 countries, while tournaments were staged in eight new countries during the 2017/18 season: Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Kuwait, Nigeria, Romania and Saudi Arabia. "Squash has been through a period of unprecedented growth over the past decade and we are delighted that we can back that up with these record figures," said PSA Chief Commercial Officer Tommy Berden. "One of the key goals of the merger between PSA and WSA was to strive for equality in both prize money and playing opportunities and, since we took control of the administration of both men's and women's squash three years ago, we have made significant strides in both of these areas. "We believe that professional squash has never been in better shape and, with the 2018/19 PSA World Championships in Chicago set to become the sport's first one million dollar tournament in February 2019, we are confident that the sport will continue to grow during the upcoming season."
