2019 DRAWS Revealed

2019 Draws Revealed

The world’s best squash players will go head-to-head on the banks of Egypt’s Red Sea after the draws for the 2019 El Gouna International Squash Open were released today.

The El Gouna International is the penultimate PSA World Tour Platinum tournament of the 2018/19 season, and an equal prize fund of $352,000 will be on offer across the men’s and women’s draws.

Men’s World No.1 Ali Farag will top a PSA Platinum event for the first time and he will look to improve on last year’s runner-up finish to fellow Egyptian Marwan ElShorbagy.

Farag, along with the rest of the top eight seeds in the men’s event, receives a bye into round two, where he will play either Australia’s Cameron Pilley or Egypt’s Tayyab Aslam.

Farag is drawn on the same side of the draw as Peru’s Diego Elias, Canary Wharf Classic winner Paul Coll and compatriot Tarek Momen, the latter of whom he beat in the final of the PSA World Championship final earlier this month.

No.2 seed Mohamed ElShorbagy, the 2016 El Gouna International champion, features on the opposite side of the draw alongside British Open champion Miguel Rodriguez, defending champion and younger brother Marwan [who faces No. 8 seed Mohamed Abouelghar in his opening match!]  and former World No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad.

Former World No.8 Fares Dessouky and fellow Egyptian Youssef Ibrahim have been named the men’s wildcards. Dessouky will play Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly, while Ibrahim takes on England’s Adrian Waller in the opening round,

Reigning women’s champion Raneem El Welily tops the women’s draw and could face eight-time World Champion Nicol David in round two. David, a former World No.1, will retire at the end of the season and will make her last appearance in El Gouna.

El Welily beat World Champion Nour El Sherbini to win the inaugural women’s title last year, but the current World No.1 has a difficult path to the final, with the likes of India’s Joshna Chinappa, Hong Kong Open champion Joelle King and World Championship runner-up Nour El Tayeb standing between her and a place in the title decider.

El Sherbini, who beat El Welily in El Gouna two years ago to win the second of her three World Championship titles, is seeded alongside World No.9 Alison Waters, World No.8 Nouran Gohar and World No.4 Camille Serme in the bottom half of the draw.

Rising Egyptian talents Jana Shiha and Farida Mohamed, both 17, take the women’s wildcard spots and will play David and Zeina Mickawy, respectively.

The El Gouna Squash Complex will host the first round matches on 17th and 18th April. Round two and three matches will be split between the glass court at Abu Tig Marina and the El Gouna Squash Complex between 19th and 22nd April, and all matches from the quarter-finals onwards will be held at Abu Tig Marina between from 23rd to 26th April .