Seven Egyptian squash players remain in the second round of the men’s competition of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions. The second round is being held from 14-15 January, and the winners will move on to the quarterfinals.
The J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions started on 12 January in New York, with nine Egyptian players competing in the men’s competition.
These nine players were: Mohamed El-Shorbagy, Marwan El-Shorbagy, Omar Mosaad, Mohamed Aboul Ghar, Tarek Momen, Fares Dessouky, Ali Farag, Zahed Mohamed, and Karim Abdel Gawad.
Two qualifying rounds were held from 10-11 January prior to the start of the tournament.
Egyptian Omar Abdel Meguid, defeated US player David Cromwell by 3-0 (11-7/11-2/11-6) and qualified to the second qualifying round. However, his ambitions in the tournament ended there after he lost to Scottish Alan Clyne by 3-0 (11-8/12-10/11-4).
The first round of the competition took place from 12-13 January.
Mohamed El-Shorbagy won against England’s Declan James by 3-0 (16-14/11-5/11-6). His victory comes as an unexpected birthday surprise, as the player turned 26 on the day of the match. His brother, Marwan El-Shorbagy, defeated England’s Daryl Selby with a score of 3-1 (11-6/11-7/6-11/11-8).
Aboul Ghar lost to his compatriot Mosaad by 3-0 (11-6/11-6/11-7). Also, Mohamed lost to his fellow compatriot Abdel Gawad by 3-1 (10-12/11-8/11-5/11-7).
Momen won against England’s Tom Richards by 3-1 (11-6/8-11/11-5/11-2).
In the match between Dessouky and America’s Todd Harrity, Dessouky snatched the victory with a 3-0 score (11-9/11-4/11-6).
After a competitive match against Hong Kong’s Tsz Fung Yip, Farag managed to win by 3-2. Farag lost the first game by 11-13. However, he turned the following two games in his favour, winning both by 11-6 and 11-5, respectively. Yip made a comeback in the fourth game, winning by 8-11 and setting the score at 2-2. Farag won the fifth game by 11-6.
