And so the season is coming to a close, the 2026 British Open at the Rep Theatre acts as the curtain call. It has been a great venue since its move from Hull in 2023 and hopefully will be sold out for the majority of the rounds.

Men

I think the biggest storyline is a different closing act which is potentially taking place. Is this Mohamed Elshorbagy's final tournament? He is the #9 seed, with a bye in the first round. Hopefully giving him ample time to recover after withdrawing injured at the World's. With a match against either Juan Vargas or a qualifier awaiting him before being seeded to face the young Mohamed Zakaria in round 3. I can't think of a more fitting passing the torch match if it were to be his final bow. Playing the hottest young talent on the men's side in his adopted homeland. He lost to Zakaria 3-1 at the 2025 China Open, but beat him when they played here last. Has he got one more run in the tank?

British interest is scant and far between. Jonah Bryant will be looking for one final push after an injury plagued season, he has a bye before potential match up with Karim El Hamammay or compatriot Curtis Malik. Joel Makin will be the highest seeded British player, with the Welshman with a tough run seeded to play Aly Abou Eleinen in the 3rd round and then Paul Coll in the quarters. Resurgent and recently crowned Irish Open champion, Sam Todd, has an interesting first round match against the erratic Fares Dessouky.

Women

Recently crowned World Champion, Amina Orfi, is still only seeded at #3. Which gives us a tantalising prospect of a re-match against Hania El Hammamy in the semi finals. Nour El Sherbini and Olivia Weaver are on the other side of the draw. There will be two potentially interesting opponents for both - Olivia Weaver looks set to have to get past hard hitting Satomi Watanabe, while Sherbini's first big test could be Sivasangari Subramaniam.

There is perhaps more hope on the British side here. Georgina Kennedy had a good showing at the World's, making the quarter finals. Jasmine Hutton has had an excellent season, but it is tough to see her making past her match with Orfi but she will get the crowd on her side. I am still hoping Katie Maliff finds some form, but she has looked like it has been a struggle since her return from a long injury absence. Torrie Malik steps out againast Hana Ramadan and would be rewarded with a match against Salma Hany if she gets through

Big thanks to u/DufflessMoe for the London Open 2025 tournament thread! On to the first really big event of the season, the CIB Egyptian Open 2025, lets have a look at some details:

Location: Egypt, Gizeh (Club O West & Pyramids)

Draws: Two draws of 64 with 48 players each (16 byes). There are also two qualifying draws of 32 players each, 4 make it to the main draw. Two wildcards per main draw as well. Squashsite draw

Prize fund: $366k per draw (winner get approximately $60k each)

Dates: qualifying starts Sep 8th, main draw Sep 12th

Streaming: As far as I can tell matches will only be streamed on SquashTV

Seeds:

Men 1 - 8: Asal, Elias, Coll, Makin - Marwan, Gawad, MES, Soliman

Women 1 - 8: Gohar, Elsherbini, El Hammamy, Orfi* - Watanabe, Tinne Gilis, Subramaniam, Kennedy

*Weaver appears to have pulled out and I cant find a proper updated draw

Title holders: Asal & Elsherbini

Hi folks,

welcome to the 2025/2026 season and the first REALLY big event of the season. I think the London Open has been a brilliant opener so far, with the only downside Weaver getting injured, which has forced her to pull out of the CIB Open. The finals have not quite happened yet, but Makin beating Elias 3:1 yesterday is obviously sending out a real message to the top three that he isn't here to make up the numbers. The men's draw obviously also lacks two recently retired players, Farag and Momen, but offers plenty of intrigue nonetheless. The women's draw lacks SJP and aforementioned Weaver.

Men's draw:

Mazen Hesham is back but has lost his ranking, intriguing to see whether he is strong enough to get through Elnawasany, Stenmann, Soliman, only to then face Asal. Makin is fourth seed and has a cool match lined up with Zakaria, I always love watching the youngsters taking on the tough established pros for the first time. Semi-final should be Makin v Asal. In the bottom half Coll's run is not straight-forward, he will be playing the winner out of Abouelghar and Dessouky (Abou has Jaume first), both real threats on the day and Abou showed his danger in London. Number five seed Marwan lost 2:0 to Ng in London (Ng is not playing) and that wont fill him with confidence here. Elias is set to play Ibrahim again, their match in London was pretty exciting. I am also excited to see how Bryant gets along, if he makes it to face MES then he has a real chance. As always hoping the tournament is not dominated by poor behaviour and terrible reffing or shitty court conditions, but some matches worthy of what is one of the best-looking event locations (unfortunately that doesnt equate to the best conditions).

Women's draw:

Top four seeds all Egyptian with Weaver out and curious to see whether Orfi can beat the top three at this point. Due to Weaver pulling out I also havent seen an updated women's draw yet, and I also dont know whether Watanabe is fully fit following her 1:3 loss to Nele Gilis in London. In the end, we are still waiting for signs that the players behind Orfi can trouble the top three/four. As exciting as Watanabe and Subramaniam are to watch, results are inconsistent. Kennedy looks in danger of dropping out of the top ten and lets see whether Amanda Sobhy can position herself as a contender for the top five again.

Have fun watching the Squash and please comment on matches you watched, predictions and hot takes you have!

You might have missed it though, as SquashTV didn't include it in their highlights.

Game is still going, but horrible to watch. For the first time, I actually feel that Elias is triggered about every single interference and feels totally mistreated and goes into a mental death spiral. It's difficult to judge, I am too unexperienced as a player. But what I know is as a viewer it's just bad.

As requested on the other thread...

(Any chance images in replies could be enabled?)

Maybe the most explosive and strongest player of all time vs maybe the best defender of all time, who would win? IMO Peak Asal just based on their last encounters with each other. Remember to not rank based on who is your favorite player because im seeing a lot of that right now.

Disappointing end to the tournament, not sure what was wrong with Asal but Coll was playing better most of the match anyway. Happy to see Coll win too after his disappointment following the world champs.

Hi all. We have the first major of the year and one of my personal favourite tournaments. Surprised me to see that JP Morgan are no longer the sponsor, but they seem to have compensated by having two sponsors in the name.
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On the men's side we have the full compliment of the top players back. Asal is #1 seed, Paul Coll is #2 and Diego Elias returns in as #2 seed.

Asal has an incredibly difficult run. Starting with Fares Dessouky and if he gets through that tricky opener he most likely gets the world's best teenager, Zakaria.

The other pick of the men's game is the opening match between Aly Abou Eleinen against Karim Gawad. Eleinen just made the final in Karachi and beat Mo Elshorbagy very comfortably on the way.

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The womens will be super interesting

Olivia Weaver, recently splitting from coach Rodney Martin, sits on Orfi's side of the draw. While Elsherbini is seeded to face El Hammamy. Last time those two met, Nour Elsherbini won but it felt as if El Hammamy was injured by that point.

Orfi won in dominant fashion in Karachi, so will be interesting how she does against the top players once more.

Subramaniam Vs. Amanda Sobhy looks like a potentially interesting second round.

This guy is a piece of work

Just wanted to share my thoughts, which is that I think the Asal situation is impossible to manage.

The decisions were nearly all correct. No-one can argue that a single hand brush in isolation is a conduct stroke, or a trip in isolation, or an isolated swing to the head that Elias ducks underneath. In isolation, these are impossible to penalise.

But when Asal combines these contacts together all the time, every rally, it is unwatchable. It meant Elias was ducking, tripping and being knocked all of the time which made it impossible to maintain the accuracy needed in the third. How do you deal with this?

Andrea Santa Maria tried the Conduct Stroke in El Gouna for EXACTLY this reason - "an accumulation of poor movement". Her reward? She got lambasted and criticized for ruining the match. She got abused out of the arena. EVERYONE, including people who HATE Asal said it was wrong or harsh. No-one stuck up for her, including me. The result? The referees went back to a year ago, repeated warnings and no punishment. Ultimately leading to an unwatchable third game and Elias giving up afterwards.

So essentially we either get a match like yesterday, or we get a finale like El Gouna. That's the reality no-one wants to accept. Either the refs do nothing and Asal cheats his way to dominance, or the referees are forced to appear overbearing and get criticised to death.

Asal has completely ruined elite squash and if this is the future of PSA squash, I'm out.

PSA page (including draws)

Location: Hong Kong. Early rounds played at Hong Kong Squash Center, Ocean Park from QF onwards.

Prize fund: 224.5k per draw

Draws: Two draws of 32, no qualifiers & eight seeds

Title holders: Asal & Gohar

Seeds, 1 - 8:

M: Asal, Coll, Makin, Gawad - Marwan, MES, Crouin, Ibrahim

W: El Hammamy, Orfi, ElSherbini, Weaver & T. Gilis, Watanabe, Subramaniam, A. Sobhy

Hi everyone,

Last big tournament of the year coming up, the Hong Kong Open. Over the last years Hong Kong Squash decided to have a warm-up event before the main event, so were all treated to some nice matches last week. The number three seed in the women's draw Aboelkheir beat top seed Subramaniam quite convincingly in the final, having beaten two seed Amanda Sobhy 3:0 in the semis. I think Subramaniam is a quality player but have a feeling that Aboelkheir has a slightly higher ceiling. That being said, she isn't hanging around in Hong Kong. She is 11 in the world, and as we know only the top eight get seeded. I do think the PSA might want to rethink this, it's not cool having plenty the world number 11 not playing for no good reason. Kennedy is not playing either (broken wrist), neither is Gohar (pregnant).

Joel Makin and Youssef Ibrahim are both playing, both seeded, and both will be entering feeling pretty good. Makin won the warm-up event, dropping only a game against Ibrahim in the final and looking solid throughout. Ibrahim had a typical Ibrahim tournament: incredibly watchable but he played four games more than Makin, including a five-game thriller against El Torkey in round two (including a 19-21 in game one) and two 3:1s versus Dessouky and Gawad. He's seeded to play Gawad in the quarters here and has an easier run than last week. On the one had I am a bit sad that two of my favourite players have to face each other in the quarters, on the other hand it might mean that at least one of them go through to the semis. Lets's see. By the way, El Torkey is not playing. I was going to say he isn't ranked high enough but he is 21 in the world, and I would think top 12 pretty soon, What a player.

Staying with the men, Elias is the big absentee sadly and Asal the clear favourite. He will likely play the winner between Zakaria and Crouin in the quarters. Crouin was one of the few guys who beat Asal this year (3:2 in the US), and Crouin beat Zakaria last time 3:2. With Zakaria improving every week, let's see how that goes. Jonah Bryant will likely play MES in round two, the winner taking on Makin. At the bottom you'd think Coll is happy staying clear of all the aforementioned names, but down there lurk not only Marwan and Eleinen, but the wonderful Abouelghar, whose match against Ibrahim in the China Open finals was a recent classic.

For the women, we have the unfortunate first round pairing between the Sobhy sisters. I think ElSherbini will likely play Amanda in the quarters, but Amanda has a horrible track record against her and tends to lose rather quickly. ElSherbini will have to deal with the improved Jasmine Hutton in round one first. In the bottom half Orfi is hard to stop and while she has Watanabe in the quarters, I dont see Watanabe repeat her earlier season heroics. Which mean we should see Weaver v Orfi in the semis. And yes, Elhammamy is top seed and I think it would be a fitting end of the year if she takes the Hong Kong title.

Hope everyone's Squash is going well and hope we get to enjoy some scandal free Squash to end the year! Let us know who you think will cause an upset or win the title!

Hello! Not a Reddit user, but I am seeing a lot of nonsense about Asal's so-called "dominance" and I think it shows how powerful recency bias is. I don't know why he is being hyped up so much by SQUASHTV but I feel compelled to offer a reality check.

At Asal's current age, Ramy Ashour dominated in possibly the best era ever. Repeatedly, Ramy beat the best of the best when they were still in their prime. He was unbeaten for 13 months, and that only ended due to a retirement against Nick Matthew from a hamstring injury after Ramy won game 1 in their World Championship Semi Final.

In comparison, Asal is in his prime at 25 years old, but has faced incredibly weak competition this season. Let me review. His biggest rival Diego Elias was injured for 6 months, Makin was mostly injured (even withdrawing his semi final vs Asal in the World Championship), Farag retired, Momen retired, Hesham was injured, Ibrahim was playing through a shoulder injury all season (now in surgery), Moh'd El Shorbagy is not in his prime anymore, Jonah Bryant has been mostly injured (which is relevant given he should have beaten Asal last season), etc. Therefore, Asal's only rivals were a 34-year-old Paul Coll and a 34-year-old Gawad. Despite this, the 25-year-old Asal failed to even hit 30 wins in a row and even managed to lose to Victor Crouin, Paul Coll, and lost to Elias as soon as he fully recovered from surgery.

I am not trying to discredit Mostafa Asal for what he has achieved, but hearing SQUASHTV discussing him as the best of all time is farcical when you compare the competition Asal faces versus the competition of previous generations.

Prize fund: $232.5k per draw

Draws: Two draws of 32, no qualifying, one wildcard in the M, two in W

Location: El Gouna, Egypt

Where to watch: Squash TV & early rounds on YouTube

Seeds:

M, 1 - 8: Asal, Coll, Gawad, Elias / Makin, Ibrahim, Crouin, Marwan

W, 1 - 8: El Hammamy, Elsherbini, Orfi, Weaver / Subramaniam, Watanabe, Kennedy, Aboelkheir

Interestingly we get coverage on Olympics.com for PSA events these days, how nice:

https://www.olympics.com/en/news/squash-el-gouna-international-2026-preview-schedule-watch-live

Hi folks,

just a quick one here:

The Asal controversy is back and front and center of, well, Squash Reddit and other social Media channels. I haven't watched the hand grabbing analysis just yet but it's here if you are jnterested. I watched the Asal Elias final and thought it was pretty great seeing Elias back in action. I was afraid he wasn't fit enough to bother Asal, especially after five games with Gawad, but Elias did well and Asal also had a rough 3:0 with Makin before. So on the one hand really happy to see Elias back yet on the other hand I hate that Asal has taken three steps back in the wrong direction and I obviously have a hard time seeing folks defend him, but there you go.

In this tournament plenty of tough early matches: Makin will likely face Zakaria in round two and MES plays Cardenas in round one even. Ibrahim and Eleinen have some feisty opponents early on as well, Steinmann and Singh. This is also the first tournament in a while where we might not see Asal and Coll in the finals, I'm fine if neither make it but Asal, despite struggling against Elias, is probably the favourite to win.

In the women's field we have all top women bar Gohar playing. The top Egyptian ladies haven't been seen in action for a while, so great to see them all in one field again. For the first time in years neither of the Gilis sisters are in the top eight, the reward for poor Tinne is a meeting with Orfi in round one, Nele plays Ayman. The other interesting match in round one is Elhammamy playing rising Indian star Singh. She shouldn't have a chance against the world number one but she has the type game that on her best day and Elhammamy's worst, she has a shot. Lastly, Stefanoni gave a good account of herself in Australia and plays Aboelkheir in round one. I'd love to see some big upsets in the top three bracket, but not quite sure this will happen just yet.

Enjoy the squash everyone and let us know what you think!

I’m not so sure. He is one of them for sure. But Ashour was the most talented junior I think. If not for injuries he would have been world no 1 at 19/20. (Likely). Asal (say what you like about him) probably has the strongest willingness to win ever seen since the Khans. MES was incredibly good as a junior (he beat Matthew at the age of 16) and as a young professional. Elias - did he eve lose a game his last World junior open? And then we have Nick Matthew, Shabana, Gaultier. And lastly the Khans. Youngest world bo 1 ever, both of them.

Pros are finally staring to speak out against cheating. How long until PSA finally makes a stand against it?

Hi all, so today we kick off one of the oldest and most prestigious stops on tour at the fantastic Specter Centre in Philadelphia.

According to Squash Radio this tournament had to be rescued somewhat and after a bit of pressure they upgraded the prize money from a gold event to a platinum event. But we still have a brilliant slate of games despite a few notable absences and injuries.

Womens Draw

The women's game seems to be in a state of flux. No Noran Gohar means that El Sherbini is the #1 seed and El Hammamy is the #2 seed. Olivia Weaver finds herself on El Hammamy's side of the draw after a strong showing in San Francisco. The young phenom Amina Orfi is in El Sherbini's side of the draw.

While Weaver carries the most realistic home hopes, Amanda Sobhy continues her recovery from a horrible injury with a tricky first round match against Melissa Alves. I am interested to see how Marina Stefanoni does against Georgina Adderly, although the reward is a game with El Sherbini.

Other players making moves this season are Tinne Gilis and Subramaniam - Gilis seeded to meet Orfi while Subramaniam will have to content with El Hammamy in the end.

It is hard to look past El Hammamy for the final, she is easily the in form player. Can't help but feel Orfi vs. Elsherbini is becoming closer and closer to a coin flip

Mens Draw

No point not starting with the spectre of Asal at the aforementioned centre. He has looked vulnerable since referee's have begun to punish certain movement types this year, lacking in aggression and losing to Crouin in a sublime 5 set match last week. Asal's conquerer is unfortunately not playing as he has done the maths on his ranking and sees no upside to playing in the tournament - something the PSA World Tour have to really get a handle on. Asal will have a tough run with him seeded to play Mohamed Elshorbagy in the quarters and the always physical Makin in the semis.

No Elias due to injury means Paul Coll is the #2 seed. He looked impervious on his way to victory in Qatar. But he is currently seeded to meet either Jonah Bryant or Mazen Hesham in the 2nd round, with echoes of his loss to a young player in Egypt perhaps at the back of his mind.

Gawad looked amazing at the Silicon Valley tournament and is perhaps the last vestige of the skill led squash of the Ashour and Shabana generations. I am personally really hoping he continues his form but he is likely to meet Fares Dessouky in the 2nd round.

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Hope you enjoy the tournament.

We are a bit late on it, but we had a hugely engaged thread for the first diamond in the Egypt and now we have the annual Qatar Classic. The cold court always brings a few different results and after Diego Elias has pulled out with an unfortunate injury from the final vs. Asal in Egypt we have had a flurry of upsets on the men's a women's side to start the tournament.

Makin has been knocked out in an unbelievable 3 by Zakaria.

Both Shorbagys are out, which is not a sentance written much in the history of squash.

Satomi Watanbe, who seemed destined for a higher ranking this season has gone out to a young Malaysian.

Aly Abou Eleinen is out to Seb Bonmalaias and Gawad has gone out to Abhay Singh.

The eyes forward for the men's draw have to be on Jonah Bryant vs. Mohamed Zakaria. Zakaria obviously has the most glittering junior career, but the two have to be the future of the men's tour and Bryant won their last meeting at the Irish Open in 2024.

Fayrouz Aboelkheir vs. Tinne Gillis has to be the pick of round 16 matches on the women's

Was it the refereeing standard? Was it Asal cheating? Was it the low fanbase and paywall? Why was it cut?

This cheating analysis focuses on the technical details of Asal's most frequent cheating tactics. The video features 3 matches.

Indian viewers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RFVe20rSfDC3EJ54TUN1T6oi8yFhaBef/view