KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 — The 2016 Naza PSA Women’s World Squash Championships at the National Squash Centre since last Saturday climaxes with the final showdown tomorrow involving the top two players at the moment — world number one England’s Laura Massaro and world number two Nour El Sherbini of Egypt.
Massaro advanced to her third world championship finals since 2012 after fending off a strong challenge from world number three Egyptian Raneem El Welily; winning 3-2, whereas Sherbini scored a comfortable 3-0 win against her compatriot, world number seven Nouran Gohar, in the other semifinals encounter.
The 32-year-old Englishwoman, the 2013 world champion besides emerging runner-up the previous year, would certainly be on a high to bag her second title of the season after winning the British National Championship for the third time after securing it back-to-back in 2011 and 2012.
Sherbini is eager to add the world championship title to her trophy cabinet while enjoying a successful 2016 season that has included wresting the 2016 British Open title from the defending champion, Malaysia’s squash queen Datuk Nicol David.
The 20-year-old lanky Egyptian who marched to her second World Championship finals since 2013, revealed her desire to become the first Egyptian to win the world title after the African country failed to win since the tournament was initiated in 1976 in Brisbane, Australia.
“I really want to win this tournament, for my country, for Raneem and Nouran and for everyone,” she told reporters after her semifinal victory over Gohar. “I really want this badly so I am going to give it everything and hopefully it will be mine this time.”
Massaro kicked off her campaign by beating Mexican qualifier Samantha Teran 3-1 in the opening round before whitewashing India’s top-ranked player Joshna Chinappa 3-0 in the next round.
She then earned a hard-fought 3-1 win over the world number six, Egyptian Omneya Abdel Kawy, in the last eight yesterday.
Sherbini, on the other hand, started her campaign with a resounding 3-0 win over Donna Urquhart of Australia before earning a hard fought 3-1 victory against 11th seed Annie Au of Hong Kong in the second round and Nicol in the quarterfinals.
Massaro and Sherbini have met twice in the last season — the Qatar Classic and the 2015 Alexandria International Open in Egypt — Massaro emerging victorious in both, before Sherbini turned the tables by defeating Massaro in the Windy City Open in Chicago in February. — Bernama
