Asserting Egypt’s dominance over the game; Egyptian duo ElShorbagy and ElSherbiny claim El Gouna International Squash Open 2021

The curtain falls on El Gouna International Squash Open 2021 as Mohamed ElShorbagy claimed the Men’s title, and Nour ElSherbiny won first place in the Women’s tournament. The finals were held for the first time at Gouna Conference and Culture Center (GCCC) in El Gouna, Orascom Development’s flagship town.

The duo claimed the title as world number 2 Mohamed ElShorbagy defeated his opponent Paul Coll with a score of 3/0; while world number 1 Nour El Sherbiny defeated her compatriot Nouran Gohar with a score of 3/0.

Ahmed Youssef, CEO of The Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority stated: “We are proud to sponsor El Gouna International Squash Open for the 9th year in a row since its initial launch. Great events such as this tournament, the Pharaohs' Golden Parade, and the World Men's Handball Championship are a great opportunity to promote Egyptian tourism, and showing the true potential of Egypt in organizing such international events.”

Eng. Samih Sawiris, Founder of El Gouna expressed his happiness on the great success achieved in the tournament, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. He stated: “I am very proud that El Gouna has become a hub for culture, sports and arts.” He also congratulated the champions of this tournament, and was very happy that Egyptian players were able to win the title.

Amr Mansi, founder of the El Gouna International Squash Championship and CEO of I-Events, the organizing company of the tournament, said that the tournament this year was above any expectations. The tournament witnessed a series of great matches, such as the match between El Shorbagy and Makin which lasted for 158 minutes, becoming the 3rd ever longest squash game in history.

It is worth mentioning that the tournament this year has achieved great success and received great media resonance in all locally and internationally. The tournament featured the top 96 squash players from 21 countries around the world to compete for a prize pool of more than USD 360,000 equally divided between the professional men and women participating.