|
| |
World-Class Draw Set to Battle for British Open Titles in Birmingham
_small.jpg)
Birmingham Rep credit Kris Askey |
 |
Mohamed ElShorbagy
Three-time British Open champion Mohamed ElShorbagy will compete at
the ‘Wimbledon of Squash’ as an English player for the first time
between April 9-16 when the prestigious PSA World Tour Platinum
event returns to Birmingham.
ElShorbagy - a former World No.1 and World Champion who won the
British Open in 2015, 2016 and 2019 - switched allegiance to England
from Egypt last June and will now line up at the iconic tournament
as England No.1 for the first time and will be seeded fifth.
The British Open has moved back to Birmingham for the first time
since 2001 and will take place at the spectacular Birmingham Rep
from round three onwards, with the opening two rounds being staged
at the Edgbaston Priory Club. ElShorbagy is one of six former
champions returning to compete for their share of the $358,000 prize
pot, which is split equally between the male and female draws.
Headlining the men’s draw is World No.1 and top seed Mostafa Asal,
with the 21-year-old Egyptian - who in January became the third
youngest man in squash history to reach World No.1 - set to play the
winner of an all-Egyptian battle between Karim El Hammamy and Omar
Mosaad in round two.
Should the tournament go to seedings, he will face the in-form Diego
Elias in the final, with the Peruvian No.2 seed set to play Wales’
Joel Makin in the second round.
Also among the players tipped for the title are Egyptian No.3 seed
Ali Farag and New Zealand’s No.4 seed Paul Coll.
Coll, winner of the last two editions of the British Open, plays
either Curtis Malik or Eain Yow Ng in round two as he bids to make
it a hat-trick of British Open titles.
Reigning World Champion Farag, who is targeting a first British Open
title after finishing runner-up in his last three attempts, will
play the winner of the first round match between Leonel Cardenas and
Balazs Farkas.
Should ElShorbagy and Makin fall, the hopes of a home winner in the
men’s draw will fall upon Scotland's Greg Lobban, or Patrick Rooney,
Adrian Waller, George Parker, Nathan Lake, Nick Wall, three-time
runner-up James Willstrop, and wildcards Curtis Malik and Sam Todd
of England.
In the women’s draw, the Egyptian trio of Nouran Gohar, Nour El
Sherbini and Hania El Hammamy are tipped to go deep.
Gohar, who has been World No.1 since April 2022, was the British
Open champion in 2019 and will play the winner of the clash between
Cindy Merlo and Melissa Alves in round two.
Defending champion El Hammamy, who beat Gohar 3-1 in last year’s
final to claim her maiden British Open title, will play either
Danielle Letourneau or Alexandra Fuller in the second round.
Meanwhile, three-time champion El Sherbini will face Japan’s Satomi
Watanabe or English wildcard and tournament debutant Torrie Malik,
who has won three of her last five events on the PSA Challenger
Tour.
Birmingham-born Sarah-Jane Perry will look to go one better than her
2017 runner-up spot, while World No.9 Georgina Kennedy returns to
the city where she won a Commonwealth Games gold medal last summer.
Joining Perry and Kennedy are four more English and two Welsh
players. Jasmine Hutton, Lucy Turmel and wildcards Katie Malliff and
Malik will represent the other English women in the draw, with Welsh
duo Tesni Evans and Emily Whitlock the other Britons in attendance.
Tickets for the British Open are on sale and available for purchase
here.
Action from Birmingham Rep will be broadcast live on SQUASHTV, while
the semi-finals and finals will also be shown live by PSA’s
broadcast partners. Streaming details for matches held at Edgbaston
Priory Club will be announced in due course.
2023 British Open: Men’s Draw
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) [Bye]
Karim El Hammamy (EGY) v [17/32] Omar Mosaad (EGY)
[17/32] Shahjahan Khan (USA) v Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP)
Adrian Waller (ENG) v [17/32] Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY)
[17/32] Patrick Rooney (ENG) v Todd Harrity (USA)
Henry Leung (HKG) v [17/32] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT)
[17/32] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Cesar Salazar (MEX)
[7] Tarek Momen (EGY) [Bye]
[8] Mazen Hesham (EGY) [Bye]
Ramit Tandon (IND) v [17/32] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA)
[17/32] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) v James Willstrop (ENG)
[9/16] Gregoire Marche (FRA) [Bye]
[9/16] Victor Crouin (FRA) [Bye]
[9/16] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) [Bye]
[17/32] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) v Balazs Farkas (HUN)
[3] Ali Farag (EGY) [Bye]
[4] Paul Coll (NZL) v [Bye]
[WC] Curtis Malik (ENG) v [17/32] Eain Yow Ng (MAS)
17/32] Saurav Ghosal (IND) v Yahya Elnawasany (EGY)
[9/16] Fares Dessouky (EGY) [Bye]
[9/16] Youssef Soliman (EGY) [Bye]
George Parker (ENG) v [17/32] Greg Lobban (SCO)
[17/32] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) v Lucas Serme (FRA)
[6] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) [Bye]
[5] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) [Bye]
[WC] Sam Todd (ENG) v [17/32] Raphael Kandra (GER)
[9/16] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) [Bye]
[9/16] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) [Bye]
[17/32] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) v Nathan Lake (ENG)
Nick Wall (ENG) v [17/32] Auguste Dussourd (FRA)
[9/16] Joel Makin (WAL) [Bye]
[2] Diego Elias (PER) [Bye]
2023 British Open: Women’s Draw
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) [Bye]
Cindy Merlo (SUI) v [17/32] Melissa Alves (FRA)
[17/32] Mariam Metwally (EGY) v Ka Yi Lee (HKG)
[9/16] Nele Gilis (BEL) [Bye]
[17/32] Nada Abbas (EGY) v Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG)
Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) v [17/32] Lucy Turmel (ENG)
[17/32] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) v Chan Sin Yuk (HKG)
[8] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) [Bye]
[7] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) v [Bye]
Lucy Beecroft (ENG) v [17/32] Farida Mohamed (EGY)
[17/32] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY)
Hana Moataz (EGY) v [17/32] Tomato Ho (HKG)
[9/16] Olivia Fiechter (USA) [Bye]
Enora Villard (FRA) v [17/32] Hollie Naughton (CAN)
[17/32] Rachel Arnold (MAS) v [WC] Katie Malliff (ENG)
[4] Joelle King (NZL) [Bye]
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v [Bye]
Danielle Letourneau (CAN) v [17/32] Alexandra Fuller (RSA)
[9/16] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) [Bye]
Joshna Chinappa (IND) v [17/32] Emily Whitlock (WAL)
[17/32] Aifa Azman (MAS) v Yathreb Adel (EGY)
[9/16] Salma Hany (EGY) [Bye]
[9/16] Olivia Clyne (USA) [Bye]
[5] Amanda Sobhy (USA) [Bye]
[6] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) [Bye]
Zeina Mickawy (EGY) v [17/32] Hana Ramadan (EGY)
[9/16] Tinne Gilis (BEL) [Bye]
[9/16] Tesni Evans (WAL) [Bye]
[17/32] Nadine Shahin (EGY) v Sana Ibrahim (EGY)
[9/16] Sabrina Sobhy (USA) [Bye]
[17/32] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) v [WC] Torrie Malik (ENG)
[2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) [Bye] |
|
