16/04/2019
PSA World Tour Finals News
2018/19 PSA World Tour Finals
to Be Held in Cairo
The
prestigious PSA World Tour Finals will be held in Egypt for the first
time after an agreement was reached today by the Professional Squash
Association (PSA) and title sponsors CIB to bring the world’s leading
squash players to the Wadi Degla Club in Cairo between June 8-13 for the
2018/19 edition of the season-ending tournament.
Featuring the world’s top eight male and female players, the CIB PSA
World Tour Finals will act as the season finale to the 2018/19 PSA World
Tour campaign and has been successfully staged in Dubai over the past
three seasons at venues such as the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Opera and
Emirates Golf Club.
The CIB PSA World Tour Finals will be the third major professional
squash tournament to be held at the Wadi Degla Club after it hosted the
2016 PSA Men’s World Championships and the 2014 PSA Women’s World
Championships.
"The PSA World Tour Finals always provides a fitting climax to the PSA
World Tour season and we are excited to be staging this season’s
tournament in Cairo," said PSA Chairman and A. A. Turki Group of
Companies (ATCO) Chairman Ziad Al-Turki.
"With a number of the sport’s highest-ranking players hailing from
Egypt, squash already has significant presence and popularity in the
country, and we hope to build on that by holding the World Tour Finals
there.
"I would like to thank both the Wadi Degla Club and CIB for their
support in staging this event, and I look forward to watching the action
unfold in June."
CIB Chief Executive and Board Member, Hussein Abaza, said: "We are
delighted to sponsor the PSA World Tour Finals and remain committed to
supporting world-class squash in Egypt. We have been involved in a
number of major tournaments in the region already this season, while we
will also serve as title sponsor for the PSA Women's World
Championships, which will bring the world's best back to the Great
Pyramid of Giza, one of the most iconic venues in sporting history.
"Our sponsorship of the PSA World Tour Finals will see us build on a
successful partnership with PSA, and I for one cannot wait to see some
of the greatest athletes in world sport take to the court in Cairo in
June."
Wadi Degla Squash Director, Karim Darwish, said: "We are excited to be
bringing the PSA World Tour finals to Egypt for the first time in the
tournament’s history, and I believe that the Wadi Degla Club will
provide the perfect venue for squash’s season finale.
"The Wadi Degla Club is no stranger to hosting the world’s biggest
squash tournaments and I look forward to welcoming players to Cairo on
June 8th for what promises to be a thrilling week. I would also like to
thank CIB for their support and look forward to working with both them
and PSA in the coming months."
The six-day event will bring together the greatest squash talents on the
PSA World Tour, with a total prize purse of $320,000 split equally
between the men’s and women’s events thanks to the generosity of
sponsors CIB, ATCO, and also the Wadi Degla Club. Players will be split
into two groups of four and will play round-robin best-of-three matches
in the group stages, with the top two from each group progressing to the
knockout semi-finals and beyond.
To qualify for the CIB PSA World Tour Finals, players must finish in the
top eight of the PSA World Tour Finals Leaderboard, with points on offer
at all PSA World Tour events during the 2018/19 season.
Winning a PSA Platinum tournament also guarantees qualification for the
World Tour Finals. World No.1 Ali Farag tops the men’s leaderboard and
has already qualified after winning the PSA World Championships, J.P.
Morgan Tournament of Champions and the Qatar Classic this season. He
sits ahead of compatriot Mohamed ElShorbagy, whose wins at the U.S. Open
and Hong Kong Open have seen him also qualify.
Karim Abdel Gawad is the other player to have already earned his place
in Cairo after triumphing in December’s Black Ball Open. The other
players in the top eight of the men’s leaderboard are Egypt’s Tarek
Momen, Germany’s Simon Rösner, New Zealand’s Paul Coll, Peru’s Diego
Elias and Egypt's Mohamed Abouelghar. The likes of India’s Saurav Ghosal
and Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez also remain in contention for a place in
the top eight, with just four men’s PSA World Tour events left this
season.
World No.1 Raneem El Welily heads up the women’s leaderboard and has
qualified for Cairo courtesy of her title win in October’s U.S. Open.
She is followed by World No.2 Nour El Sherbini, who won both the PSA
World Championship and the Tournament of Champions.
New Zealand’s Joelle King is the other automatic qualifier after lifting
her maiden Platinum title at the Hong Kong Open in November.
Egypt’s Nour El Tayeb, France’s Camille Serme, England’s Sarah-Jane
Perry, Wales’ Tesni Evans and Egypt’s Nouran Gohar make up the rest of
the top eight. English duo Alison Waters and Laura Massaro, and Unites
States No.1 Amanda Sobhy sit just outside the top eight and face a race
against time to earn a top eight berth, with three women’s PSA World
Tour events left.
Two more Platinum tournaments remain this season, with the El Gouna
International and Allam British Open still to come in April and May,
respectively. The men’s XII Torneo Internacional PSA Sporta, Bronze
tournament, which is held between May 29 - June 2, will be the last
ranking PSA World Tour event of the season.
Tickets for the season-ending CIB PSA World Tour Finals will go on sale
soon.
For the full CIB PSA World Tour Finals Leaderboard, go
here.
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