Egypt’s world No. 5 and world junior champion Nouran Gohar won her first career PSA World Series title, defeating Team USA’s Amanda Sobhy in the Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open Sunday at the Hong Kong Football Club.
Sobhy entered what was just her second career World Series final appearance after upsetting the top seed and world No. 1 Nour El Sherbini in Saturday’s semifinals.
The twenty-three-year-old from Boston started off strong in the final, commanding the first game 11-6.
Sobhy was poised to go up 2-0 with a 10-6 lead in the second game, but the eighteen-year-old Egyptian fought off four game balls to level the match 1-1.
Gohar continued her momentum to win the third and fourth games 11-7, 11-8 in a forty-three-minute final.
“I can’t believe it, ” said a delighted Gohar. “I was 1-0 down and 10-7 down in the second game and I was just trying to stay on court and not be beaten 3-0 in the final.”
Gohar, who recently claimed her second consecutive world junior title in Poland,
“I tried to fight for every point and it paid off in the end, ” Gohar continued. “Raneem [El Welily], my mom and my coach, gave me a game-plan but I couldn’t execute it on court in the first game. But I managed to change it up and push myself – I told myself it is a final and you have to give everything to win and I’m so happy to win—it’s an amazing feeling to win a World Series tournament.”
Watch the final replay on SquashTV.