January
The 2024 kickstarted in style, with World No.2 Nouran Gohar returning from her lengthy injury layoff at the Gold-level Florida Open.
‘The Terminator’ delivered yet another thrilling chapter in her fierce rivalry with Hania El Hammamy in the semi-finals, with the latter clinching an epic 15-13 final game semi-final win over Gohar in just shy of 100 minutes of breathless action. El Hammamy would go on to be defeated by Nour El Sherbini in the final, with Mostafa Asal clinching his first title of the season in the men’s event, defeating ‘The Black Falcon’ Mazen Hesham in the title decider.
The first Platinum event of the 2024 calendar year would follow at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions in New York, with Nour El Sherbini fighting through the pain barrier to pick up yet another piece of major silverware, overcoming a troublesome back injury she sustained in the semi-finals to overcome El Hammamy and subsequently coming from 2-0 down to defeat Gohar in the title decider. ‘The Warrior Princess’ was joined by Ali Farag in the winner’s enclosure after the World No.1 defeated Diego Elias in five games in the final.
Elsewhere in January, Farida Mohamed claimed her maiden World Tour title at the Carol Weymuller Open, notably overcoming home favourite and top seed Olivia Weaver in the semi-finals.
February
At the DAC Pro Squash Classic, Rowan Elaraby scored the biggest upset of her career, managing to conquer Nouran Gohar in a fiery five-game clash, which ended in controversial circumstances with the two players not shaking hands at the close of the match.
Meanwhile, World No.1 Ali Farag continued his faultless start to the calendar year with two further title victories at the Houston Men’s Open and the Platinum-level Windy City Open, while El Sherbini came from 2-0 down to Gohar in the women’s Windy City Open final to take home the title.
In what proved to be a coming-of-age tournament in Washington D.C., 16-year-old Amina Orfi won her maiden World Tour title at the Squash On Fire Open, defeating top seed Tinne Gilis in a thrilling five-game encounter.
Elsewhere, Karim Abdel Gawad captured the Pittsburgh Open crown after defeating Marwan ElShorbagy in the final.
March
Hania El Hammamy was the runner up at the Optasia Open in London bowing to Satomi Watanabe, while Ali Farag had the same fate in the Men’s final against Paul Coll – Ali was actually fasting and suffered cramps at the end of the final.
Paul Coll went on to beat another Egyptian in the London Classic final, Mostafa Asal. Meanwhile, Salma Hany tasted her first piece of PSA silverware in over a decade after overcoming Amina Orfi in the final of the Australian Open.
April
April was the month in which Nouran Gohar returned to the winner’s enclosure, with ‘The Terminator’ claiming back-to-back titles in Egypt at the Black Ball Open and El Gouna International.
The Egyptian was dominant throughout the two events, dropping just three games in that time and looking back to the very best form that saw her hit the top of the women’s rankings in 2020. After losing out to El Sherbini in the finals of the two previous Platinum events, Gohar got her revenge by claiming a 3-1 win at the El Gouna International – a tournament which also saw impressive semi-final runs for both Georgina Kennedy and Tinne Gilis.
The respective men’s events were claimed by Mostafa Asal (Black Ball Open) and Ali Farag (El Gouna International), with the pair defeating one another in the two finals.
May
Mostafa Asal stopped in the final of the World Champs in Cairo against the first South American to win the PSA World Championships title Diego Elias. But it was another first-time win for the Terminator Nouran Gohar after she ended Nour El Sherbini’s hopes of claiming a record-equalling seventh World Championships.
Former World Champion Tarek Momen was the other title winner in May, taking home the honours at the QSF 3 2024. Momen, who was the top seed in Doha, dashed home hopes by defeating Abdulla Al-Tamimi in the semi-finals before getting the better of Eain Yow Ng in the final.
June
The final Platinum event of the 2023/24 season, the British Open, took place at the stunning Rep Theatre, Birmingham, with Nouran Gohar and Mostafa Asal walking away with the coveted titles after two thrilling finals.
The Egyptian duo defeated World No.1s Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini in five games each, with the match between Gohar and El Sherbini becoming the longest women’s British Open final on record (91 minutes).
Farag got his revenge on Asal at the season-ending PSA World Tour Finals by defeating his Egyptian teammate in the men’s final, while Gohar stretched her unbeaten run on the PSA World Tour to 25 matches after picking up the women’s title. This run included a fourth straight win over El Sherbini from four finals, with Gohar closing the season as the clear-form player on the women’s tour.
