PHOTOS
[1] Nour El Sherbini 3-1 [3] Hania El Hammamy 11-7, 9-11, 11-1, 11-7 (48m)
🗣 "I'm really happy and proud to be standing here right now, Black Ball has always been a special event to me."@noursherbini gives us her thoughts after becoming the 2021 CIB Squash Open Black Ball champion 🏆 pic.twitter.com/xMiRv3BXqf
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) December 16, 2021
“I’m really happy and proud. Black Ball has always been a special event for me and I love to play here. From the first event I reached about four finals and lost in them, so to be stood here having won two Black Ball Opens is an honour for me. I lost one of the finals against Hania, it was her first Platinum event and I’m sure it’s not going to be the last.
“She’s amazing and the three of us, with Nouran and Hania, we’ve been raising the bar so high this season and they’re playing the best seasons of their lives, so I’m really happy with my performance today.”
This was the final in the last event we had before COVID upset all our lives… Hania created the upset by beating the World number One… Can she do it again….
[1] Nour El Sherbini3-0 Georgina Kennedy (Eng) 11-7, 11-5, 11-3 (26m)
[3] Hania El Hammamy3-1 [2] Nouran Gohar 11-8, 8-11, 11-4 rtd (55m)
Oh that's just outrageous @HaniaaElHammamy!! 😲
What. A. Shot. 👏 pic.twitter.com/UlEWVVVeE9
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) December 15, 2021
Incredible from @NouranGohar!!! 😱
First the dive and then the winner – epic from The Terminator 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RdnCI2xfqs
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) December 15, 2021
🗣 "It's not the way I wanted to get the first win against her… hopefully she recovers soon."@HaniaaElHammamy reacts after @NouranGohar retired from their @BlackBallSquash clash due to injury 🎥 pic.twitter.com/1s4MdiikXC
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) December 15, 2021
Hania said
“It’s always tough playing against Nouran and it’s not the way I wanted to get the first win against her – I’ve never beaten her, not in juniors, not in training, not anywhere to be honest. It’s not a great feeling to win this way and hopefully she recovers soon and we have many more tough matches.
“I was just focusing on my game plan and focusing on what I was doing. Today I felt really good on court and I didn’t want to lose my focus or lose my game plan at all. I don’t think I even noticed anything, but definitely something happened to Nouran and I didn’t see it.
“I thought someone was telling her to review so I was a little upset and Ashraf [the referee] noticed it and didn’t give her any kind of warning, so I was a little upset.
“I had to let it go and concentrate because if the ref didn’t say anything then I should focus and there is nothing I can do. I wish her a speedy recovery and hopefully she is back soon.
“I don’t think anyone needs to rate Nour El Sherbini to be honest, she’s already rated very highly, so it’s going to be a tough match. I love playing against Nour, it’s an honour playing against her and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s match.”
Nour El Sherbini said
“It was a tough match playing Gina for the first time,”
“She has been playing amazing, she’s very fit and playing really good squash and I had to get my A plan to play her. I knew how big an event this was for her and playing in the semi-final is big, but I’m really happy with my performance and that I knew how to play against her.
“I might watch a little bit of the next match, I know it’s going to be a very tough one, both are in top form and playing well this season. I’ve played a lot of good matches with both of them and actually lost against both of them last time, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow and whoever is going to win hopefully I’ll be ready for.”