The ranks of players in town for the 2019-20 PSA Men’s World Championship has continued to swell with World No. 4 and 2016 World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad being the latest to touch down at the Hamad International Airport on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old Egyptian arrived in Doha to the waiting hands of the officials of the Qatar Squash Federation who accorded the former World No. 1 the warm welcome and great hospitality Qatar is globally known for.
Gawad arrives in Doha three days after claiming victory at the Egyptian Squash Open, the PSA Platinum event in Cairo held in front of the Pyramids, where he got the better of World No.1 Ali Farag, winning 3-0 (11-6, 11-8,11-8) in what was a repeat of the men’s 2016 Al Ahram Open final.
The right-handed player, the third Egyptian to win the World Championship after Amr Shabana and Ramy Ashour, and the winner of the 2016 Qatar Classic here, will be hoping to claim his second World title in Doha after enjoying a splendid season which saw him reaching the semi-finals of the Grasshopper Cup, the DPD Open and the British Open, and victory in Cairo.
The $335,000 total prize purse tournament is featuring a total of 64 players from 24 countries, including the 56 highest ranked players and eight wild card entrants. In addition to capturing the trophy and the lion’s share of the prize money, the winner will also qualify for the season ending PSA World Tour Finals.
