Nouran Gohar and Mostafa Asal are the 2020-21 CIB PSA World Tour Finals CHAMPIONS.
In two four-game all-Egyptian finals, Gohar beat defending champion Hania El Hammamy, while finals debutant Asal overcame two-time champion Mohamed ElShorbagy.
[3] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 3-1 [2] Hania El Hammamy (Egy) 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8 (77m)
[7] Mostafa Asal (Egy) 3-1 [5] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egy 12-14, 11-4, 11-7, 11-3 (70m)
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Gohar Wins Women’s Title
World No.2 Nouran Gohar is the CIB PSA World Tour Finals women’s champion after she defeated compatriot Hania El Hammamy in the final.
The two players had never faced each other before in a PSA final and the head-to-head was weighted in Gohar’s favour with the 23-year-old winning all three of their previous meetings.
Gohar started the match strongly to open up a two-game lead before El Hammamy hit back in the third to revive her title chances and begin to cause some nerves for Gohar. The World No.5 memorably fought back from a 2-0 deficit in the last final at this event when she defeated Nour El Tayeb.
However, lightning did not strike twice for El Hammamy this time as Gohar held her nerve and managed to hold onto her lead to close out in the fourth and win her first CIB PSA World Tour Finals trophy and her first title of the season.
“If you want to beat Hania then you have to play over your best and be consistent,” said Gohar afterwards.
“She is the hungriest player right now on tour. I know how it feels to be her age and beating the top players, so I knew she would be confident on court and I couldn’t take it for granted being 2-0 up. She pulled it back and she was trying to win the match, I’m just pleased with the way I performed. It’s always easier when you have the support, I have all my support here, my coach Omar [Abdel Aziz] and the crowd and Wadi Degla – all the player, juniors and Karim Darwish, it feels like playing at home. I really enjoyed my time on court this week and super happy.
“The ranking is huge. I’ve been there, so no more pressure to get on top and I definitely want to get back. You have to think about the performance first to be able to win the titles and be able to reach the top again. The main point now is to have these performances consistently and then win titles and then get back to the ranking. I just hope I can perform well for the next tournament.”
Asal wins first major title
[7] Mostafa Asal (Egy) 3-1 [5] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egy 12-14, 11-4, 11-7, 11-3 (70m)
Egypt’s World No.12 Mostafa Asal defeated World No.2 Mohamed ElShorbagy at Cairo’s Mall of Arabia to become the CIB PSA World Tour Finals men’s champion.
Asal, who was making his CIB PSA World Tour Finals debut, came from a game down to win the biggest PSA title of his career. Alongside beating ElShorbagy in the final, Asal also defeated World No.1 Ali Farag, World Champion Tarek Momen and defending champion Marwan ElShorbagy throughout an impressive week for the 20-year-old.
A tightly contested first game went the way of ElShorbagy before Asal began to fully express his dominance in the second to draw back level. That continued in the third as the young Egyptian was at his accurate best to take the lead before an uncharacteristic drop off from ElShorbagy, who looked to be struggling physically, in the fourth allowed Asal to seal the win by an 11-3 scoreline in the fourth.
“I can’t believe I’ve played with someone that I’ve always looked up to,” said Asal afterwards.
“He’s a legend, he’s my No.1, he’s an idol – everything. I cannot celebrate against him, something special for me. It’s really tough for me, since I was 10-years-old, I went with my friends and cheered for him at every tournament. Something unbelievable for me, Mohamed will be No.1 soon, I can’t describe my feelings. I want to thank the tournament, Karim Darwish and all of the crowd.
“He said to me celebrate as you want. It’s your time and I know it’s going to happen one day. I came here to enjoy myself, in front of my friends, in my country, in front of my city. To play this tournament is something unbelievable to me and to play against the World No.1, World No.2, World No.3, World No.5 is a dream come true.“I was coming here to enjoy myself, the year before I was coming to watch this tournament. I’m really pleased to play it and then win it.”
[the-post-grid id=”1720″ title=”2021 Finals”]