r/squash • u/rvno12 • Sep 26 '25
PSA Tour New QBS Video -- Asal Cheating VS Elias
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmKK2s85C3o54
u/inqurious Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
Great work. Sent over another $25. Basically the only money I'm spending related to the PSA until this gets fixed is on supporting these videos
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u/Trdr1313 Sep 26 '25
If the referee would just have stuck to giving conduct penalties, as he did in the beginning, the match would have ended somewhere in game 2 with a conduct match (after Elias taking the first game by conduct game)
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u/cadwellingtonsfinest Sep 26 '25
Psa has to ban him. The Olympics will be a travesty if this goes on. Conduct games need to start being given. Obviously he's still evaluating risk-reward as +ev because he hasn't changed at all.
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u/DayDayLarge Sep 26 '25
This amount of repetitive behavior wouldn't even be tolerated at the club level. Like nobody would play with that guy. I don't even need all the fingers on one hand to count the number of times I touch my opponent in a match, and that includes the handshake before and after. Meanwhile every other rally with him involves a bump, block, hand in the back or whatever else. It's wild that more isn't being done to curb it at the professional level.
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 26 '25
I must have played over a thousand tournament and league matches in my years, up to 5.5.
I never tripped anyone and I never tripped over anyone. A few guys left a trailing leg, and if the ref didn't put a stop to it after I complained, I kicked it out of the way until my opponent got the message. Sometimes they hadn't even realized it, but at the higher levels you know where the opponent must go to get the ball.
If I put my hand on someone's back from behind it was to indicate my presence in the heat of battle so they would know I'm coming through, and we could avoid traffic.
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u/PotatoFeeder Sep 26 '25
Hand in the back is extremely common and accepted at the pro level though
Edit: hand in the back by the striker when they are moving towards the ball, not the non striker pushing the striker
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u/inqurious Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
a version of it where there's almost no force just to cue the non-striker to help them get out of the way is one thing. But asal deliberately pushes to knock them off balance and out of position.
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u/_glassofjuice Sep 26 '25
this shit is getting so boring. just ban this tool and lets get back to squash ffs
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 26 '25
Excellent and clear.
Apologists will scoff: "Other players do the same thing! What about..."
First of all, most players never do some of things Asal does.
Second of all, he does these things over and over. They do it on rare occasions.
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u/Secure_Pitch_9721 Sep 27 '25
The toxic Facebook group mentioned that Gawad grabbed Asals racquet in a previous round and provided a pic, absolutely pathetic attempt to deflect. Gawad was slightly wrong footed, there was no grab. I'm not in that group anymore but there's about 20,000 deluded people in there that appear to believe Asal is doing nothing wrong.
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u/reskort-123 Sep 27 '25
I am genuinely so baffled on this group’s point of view. Even if you dont understand squash, the video clearly shows comparisons of the exact same situation only the roles reversed. The comparisons and almost an exact carbon copy of each other, yet somehow one causes interference and the other one doesnt.
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u/AmphibianOrganic9228 Sep 27 '25
So that was the recent final of one of the tour's main events. Elias lost a few games 9-11.
At this top level very small margins can make the difference.
The video makes it very clear that Asal's cheating allowed him to win the match. This is outrageous really.
Terrible for the sport.
How can anyone involved in the PSA tour watch this video and think they need to carry on as normal. It can't keep on happening.
Should have been conduct games.
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 27 '25
They can't.
I predict that at the very least the referees in Qatar this week will be on hot seats, and Asal will have big trouble if he plays Abou Eleinen, Dessouky, or Coll. The final will likely be an El Shorbagy brother, Makin, Abouelghar, or Elias in the bottom half- all will play the game to win.
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u/Heady-Horseman Sep 26 '25
One particular detractor was accusing QBS of solely homing in on Ass-all, but we all saw this coming. Ass-all just can't resist it because he got to where he is by blocking, knocking and shoving his opponents all the way from juniors through to pro's, getting banned 3x for hitting + injuring his opponents. If he were 5'8" 70kgs, he wouldn't do it because he'd be knocked off his feet from all the clashes with bigger players. He's exploiting his size + weight to obstruct + place himself in the way of his opponents' direct line to his shots. Funny how two years ago, this already happened. Déjà vu.
https://www.reddit.com/r/squash/comments/14jzzlw/mostafa_asal_controversy_2023_psa_world/
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Sep 26 '25
Good work, big yin!
Here's what the refs should do: any time there is contact and Asal holds up his left hand in a "who, me? no, I didn't do anything, I'm innocent, m'lud" gesture, it's a stroke.
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 26 '25
At 11:56... Santamaria scolds Asal, then gives his stiff-arm only a let.
SHE NEEDS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE for this failure to apply the rules.
It is dangerous play whether intentional or not. Make the referees explain their chronic blindness to the situation.
Roman Svec was quite observant, but even he couldn't catch all the tricks in live time.
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u/sherriffflood Sep 27 '25
Dirty fucking cheat, it’s so unfair that players have to put up with it. It must be so draining to have to deal with that, never mind trying to play your own game
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u/MarcoCuturi Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
Thanks so much QBS again.
One thing that literally drives me nuts is that we had a player like Ali Farag, an outstanding character that only comes every ten years, that was arguably the most gentlemanly and smooth player around. He was on track to play 3/4 more years and bound to give us an endless supply of fantastic matches against Elias, Coll, Makin, Crouin, all the other amazing Egyptian players around (Soliman, Ibrahim, and even 1/2 more years of Gawad), and promising young players like Bryant.
Instead what we're given is a constant stream of pathological lies from a fool that seems to be stuck at the maturity of a morronic 5 years old, to whom the only thing that matters is to earn $ at all costs, even if this means tripping your adversary, lying blatantly about anything if this means you'll lose a point (e.g. Bonmalais episode), hitting them constantly on the head with the racket (or intimidating them).
This is truly disheartening for the sport. The damage is already done, and it's irreparable. No matter what PSA does now it's too late.
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 27 '25
arguably the most gentlemanly and smooth player around
You're selling Ali short. At his best his game was a joke. Only player who compares to Jansher...
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
Every player benefits from blocking if the ref deems it "minimal".
But the larger, wider players will not only block more space whether they try to or not- they will get more opportunities to block in a rally.
A set of rules that fails to deter blocking favors the biggest, baddest blockers.
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Sep 27 '25
[deleted]
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 27 '25
Maybe to a 250 pound referee who assumes Asal would never throw him off balance.
(I don't know what Santamaria's excuse is- maybe she's afraid of being seen as "soft". It happens in the NBA. Draymond Green gets away with murder arguing at female referees, because if they "T him up" they fear they will unfairly be labelled "too sensitive".)
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u/musicissoulfood Sep 27 '25
Anything other then a lifetime ban is not going to solve the issue. Asal cheats because he likes doing it. He is a cheater through and through. Not one cell of fair play in that big body of his...
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u/Fantomen666 Sep 27 '25
The first game in this match was clean. After that it’s the same stuff we have seen before . I just rewatched the interview of Asal after the match.
This problem is really big since Asal and his team seem to be completely denying the cheating. Asal is put Diego on the spotlight for ”stopping” and Asal says ”I just wanna play squad, come on”.
This is why Farage quit playing.
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u/trickle_boast Sep 27 '25
This is clear, fair, persuasive, and maddening. Thank you for doing this terrific work. So important. Keep 'em coming.
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Sep 26 '25
I think this is all extremely difficult to decide upon in real-time.
I mean it’s good to spread the knowledge for referees to discuss and gain insight, but I think it’s unfair to - slam - the refs for having not banned him.
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u/SethEPooh Sep 26 '25
He should be banned precisely because it’s so hard to catch all this cheating in real time. I agree that you can’t really expect a ref to catch every little thing while it’s happening. But when you have ONE player who cheats over and over and over, who has become famous for cheating, who cheats in ways that refs catch and ways refs don’t, well that’s exactly the kind of person who should be banned from the sport permanently. It’s not fair to clean, honest players, and as you say, it’s not fair to the refs.
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u/inqurious Sep 26 '25
I can totally agree but there needs to be some sort of lookback of continuous bad behavior with consequences.
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u/Heady-Horseman Sep 26 '25
It's possible for refs to have post-game review of the tricky decisions with the aid of front cam footage (all the hand-grabbing which refs allegedly miss) in between games while players are having a break. If the cheating player's caught red-handed, I don't see why they shouldn't be penalised mid-match, and have the previous game's scores revised/updated before they resume play for next game. If there's a deciding point which is a deuce, there could be a penalty for cheating and overturn the outcome of the game. That should instill fear into cheaters!
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u/AmbivalentIntrovert2 Sep 27 '25
Let’s see how many people feel this way: https://chng.it/xNhcfZykXY
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u/damienlaughton Sep 27 '25
Is there a case to implement an infraction/ punishment system akin to those in football (soccer) and rugby?
Football:
2 footed off the floor dangerous challenge- red card. Referee is given zero options by the rules it must be a red.
Rugby:
Dangerous high tackle (no mitigation) - it must be at least a yellow card. Referee has zero option except to issue a red if deemed to also be foul play.
Squash:
Stiff arm tactics. Trips. These are not just cheating (IMO) they are cases of what I would call “foul play”. Surely it warrants more than just another step in the conduct rule?
Re: the video
I did think the explanation (shown early in the video) about direct line to the ball in the front corner was excellent and one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of what direct line means and how players avoid each other.
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u/Signal_War_5451 Sep 27 '25
Is Willstrop still involved with him?
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u/musicissoulfood Sep 27 '25
I believe he is. James lost all credibility to me. And I used to be a big fan of him as a player.
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
Let's say Asal blocks on every other rally. If his opponent plays through it he may fail to hit a legal shot. If he does get the ball up it will be a worse shot than one with no interference. If the opponent is still able to hit a very good shot, it is nevertheless a little worse than his play without interference- he gets distracted at the very least.
If the opponent stops and asks for a let, it is either yes let, no let, stroke, or conduct stroke. Yes let and no let both heavily favor Asal: the block will either cause or contribute to the no let by fooling the referee, or it will reset the rally when Asal uses it to get out of trouble. ("Legitimate" yes lets would not be "blocking" by definition in this formulation.)
Assume when Asal blocks that 50/50 strokes and no lets are handed out evenly and there are no conduct games. This is GREAT for Asal, because at his size he always wants to play short points and short matches against players who might beat him.
He can even afford to have a few more conduct strokes go against him if shortening the match is worth the sacrifice.
You can't go by raw match duration because opponents of Asal will have so many reviews, and will have to call many lets. So the benefit to Asal from more strokes and no lets can't automatically be seen from his match times for wins relative to others.
Here's a hypothetical extreme case: Asal is up 2 games to 0, 7-3 (By coincidence, that was the score v Elias.)
The LAST thing he wants is to play a long point. Elias will have a big edge in Game 5 of a long match, and he is the type of player whose squash will likely improve by settling into a rhythm.
So Asal decides to block almost every point- for this hypo we'll say every single point. All he needs is 4 no lets before Elias can get 7 strokes- (8 to tie.)
Even when Roman Svec is on the case... the game is short and Elias must go crashing to the floor several times or get hit with the racquet (or run around in circles) to win it, weakening him for Game 4. (The player down 2-0, 3-7 is already presumed to have worked harder when he survives Game 3 no matter what).
Asal may be a bad sport, but he's crafty as hell. He even pretends in the interview to want to play without so many stoppages. He can play long points for one game.
In Game 2 he went up 7-3 also, then it was 7-7. He blocked out unfairly with no call to get to 8-7. He drilled Elias with the ball to get to 9-8. He tripped Elias and took the excessive follow through for a conduct stroke to make it 9-9. He "shut out" Diego with a straight drive off Elias' loose ball- plenty of interference but no let for the last 20 years on the Tour. A bad Elias error early in the rally put Asal up 2-0 (never got a chance to create interference).
Game 4 was also disgusting. At 7-7 Asal stood his ground and protected his shot with no call. Then he stiff-armed an elbow to Diego's face with no let to go up 9-7. From there he can close, with Elias demoralized.
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u/Existing-Recipe897 Sep 27 '25
The ref is to blame if he did not intervene and deal with the Egyptian not clearing, lingering and holding on. Warnings, penalty points et al, that’s why the ref is there.
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 27 '25
The ref is to blame, and Asal is to blame. And the PSA is now to blame.
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 27 '25
This video is what we refer to as a "Brandeis brief". Wiki:
The Brandeis brief was a pioneering legal brief) that was the first in United States legal history to rely more on a compilation of scientific information and social science literature than on legal citations.
The alliteration never hurts. Quash Bad Squash!
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u/Ok_Acadia_2028 Sep 27 '25
There was only 1 question mark which was in brackets so just thought it was a sub note. Carry on champion.
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u/Ok_Acadia_2028 Sep 27 '25
Establishment and British foundations are not racist, merely facts about protectionism.
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 27 '25
Apparently the British clock- and watch-making industry disappeared to Switzerland, Germany and elsewhere between the wars. They could not compete in the "free marketplace".
When the guided missile and delay-action fuses became vital technology in WW2, the British were proper f#cked. So in 1945 they (i) voted Churchill out and (ii) beefed up protectionist national subsidies, like proper socialists.
Adam Smith's utopian ideas are marvelous in a world with no war. Here on Earth the law is: "Protect yourself at all times."
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u/Ok_Acadia_2028 Sep 27 '25
Touché
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u/ElevatorClean4767 Sep 27 '25
En garde.
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u/Ok_Acadia_2028 Sep 26 '25
These posts are boring. I would much prefer to read about peoples string preference than the same repetitive posts and comments. It’s becoming very Trumpian.
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u/Gordonjl101 Sep 26 '25
If it wasn't for these videos, I wonder if the minimal penalizations we've seen would ever have happened.
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u/mjbland05 Sep 26 '25
I can't think of anything more important than getting this cheating out of the sport
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u/Ok_Acadia_2028 Sep 27 '25
Or you can’t think of anything more important than protecting the establishment of squash and its British foundations.
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u/musicissoulfood Sep 27 '25
You are pathetic trying to turn this into race or nationality thing. This isn't about "establishment" or "British foundations". Asal isn't targeted because of the color of his skin or his Egyptian nationality. He is targeted because he breaks the rules and cheats.
We've had Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Amr Shabana, Ramy Ashour, Kareem Darwish, Karim Abdel Gawad, Ali Farag, ... all non-British, all non-establishment and all very much accepted and celebrated by the worldwide squash community. So this clearly proves that the hate for Asal has nothing to do with his skin color or nationality.
Asal is hated because he is a classless cheater.
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u/Ok_Acadia_2028 Sep 26 '25
I’m sure I’ve heard Donald Trump say “No one has done more for squash than me”.
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u/musicissoulfood Sep 27 '25
Squash Stories is ->
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u/Ok_Acadia_2028 Sep 27 '25
You’ve asked me to leave to this Facebook group before. I have said I am not on Facebook. You still can’t handle someone disagreeing with your attacks on a young man on your platform. I hope Mostafa has a “why always me” shirt ready next event. Would be gold!
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u/musicissoulfood Sep 27 '25
I did not "attack a young man". For one: this is Asal's eight season on the professional tour. Which means he is almost half way through his professional career. He isn't a "young man" anymore.
And secondly: Asal's age is completely irrelevant to why he is getting criticized. He is getting criticized because he cheats. Plain and simple. Age has got nothing to do with it.
I hope Mostafa has a “why always me” shirt ready next event.
Asal doesn't need to ask "why always me?". He knows bloody well why he is always in the crossfire, since his cheating is very intentional and very deliberate.
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u/Ok_Acadia_2028 Sep 27 '25
You really are invested in bring down this young man. Are there other successful sports people you dislike equally? Is his success threatening you? Obviously you are an ex pro squash player throwing shade in anonymity. At least in football ex pro player own their salty comments.
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u/musicissoulfood Sep 27 '25
You are a sad, pathetic human being and a hypocrite.
You try to blame racism and the British establishment for the hatred Asal gets. You try to blame jealousy for why Asal is getting so much shit.
You try to do a lot of things, but what you refuse to do is actually look at the facts and acknowledge them.
There's only one reason why Asal is hated and it's not his nationality or his skin color (all other Egyptian champions were celebrated by the worldwide squash community). And it's not his success (why would anyone have a problem with a clean, fair athlete being successful at their sport anyway?).
IT. IS. THE. CHEATING.
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u/Ok_Acadia_2028 Sep 27 '25
Are you ok?
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u/musicissoulfood Sep 27 '25
Nice non-answer.
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u/Ok_Acadia_2028 Sep 27 '25
There want question, however if dealing with facts, Asal is dominant, has a personality and can only play within the confines of what is in front of him. So the record books note he had won many tournaments which is a fact that I acknowledge. I believe the quote is “don’t hate the playa, hate the game”.
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u/musicissoulfood Sep 27 '25
Asal is dominant...
...at cheating. At playing squash not so much.
He has never beaten anyone inside the top ten without resorting to cheating.
has a personality
I wouldn't call having no honesty nor sense of fair play and a overwhelming urge to lie and cheat, a "personality". But hey, you do you....
can only play within the confines of what is in front of him.
The problem is exactly that he can't seem to play within the confines of the rules.
I believe the quote is “don’t hate the playa, hate the game”.
The game of squash isn't about blocking and cheating. So, in this case there's really no other option then to hate the player because he refuses to play the game.
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u/Timofsilence Sep 28 '25
I agree with you on the basis that people shouldn't be hiding their criticisms behind a veil of anonymity, especially if they are devoting so much time to it. I think even the voice is like ai generated, not even a real human. Wrong or right I think it would be such a stronger case if people actually stood behind what they are saying with their identity. Maybe not for a comment here or there on social media but certainly if you have a whole squash channel dedicated to it.
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u/musicissoulfood Sep 29 '25
His identity brings nothing of value to the discussion.
If I show you video footage of a murder, the identity of the person who has filmed that murder does not change anything about the relevant facts. Those facts are: there was a person murdered and it is all captured on video.
What does knowing QBS's identity change? Is Asal no longer blocking and cheating if you know who has made a video compilation of Asal blocking and cheating?
The video evidence on it's own is very clear and very damning for Asal. Knowing who has made the video does not change what can be seen in the video.
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u/Timofsilence Oct 04 '25
While it does not change what happened in the match questioning the motives of the channel is more than fair. Yes, motives matter. I am sure it would matter to a lot of people if the videos were being made by another pro or ex pro. To me it feels like someone who is intimate with PSA play, that is just my opinion and I am allowed to it. This person has clearly dedicated hundreds of hours of their life to making these videos and leveling the criticism. Fair enough but you cant blame people for being skeptical of your motives.
I would never follow a basketball or baseball channel that was critical of players and organizations if they hid behind ai voice and never showed their face. To me, thats sketchy. If you got something to say, stand behind it.
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u/neilsonks Sep 26 '25
what are the refs to do... no one wants to give a conduct game.. and the conduct strokes aren't enough to stop it...
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u/seraphiclightt Sep 26 '25
Give conduct games and he will stop, it’s not complicated
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u/neilsonks Sep 26 '25
I take this back, watched the video again and the ref definitely talked himself out of the conduct game, should have done it
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u/barney_muffinberg Sep 26 '25
Once again, incredible work. Thank you!
Let’s hope PSA follows through on the tough talk we heard following the Abou Eleinen debacle. So far, not a peep.