MANCHESTER: Egypt s Ramy Ashour claimed the men s World Open on Sunday while Malaysian golden girl Nicol David clinched her third title.
The men s event brought a new champion with 21-year-old Ashour adding the world title to his Super Series triumph from here last year.
Ashour had beaten his compatriot Amr Shabana, the top-seeded titleholder in the semi-finals and on Sunday overcame another Egyptian, Karim Darwish 5-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5.
Ashour became the first player to emulate Jansher Khan, the great Pakistani of the eighties and nineties, in having won both the world junior and world senior titles.
To be in the same category as Jansher is a huge thing, Ashour said.
He is one of the legends of all time. I have been watching him on YouTube and I have taken shots from him.
Shabana, a favorite for winning this championship, looked a little below his best while reaching the third round with a 12-10, 11-7, 11-4 win over Borja Golan.
Had he won the World Open, Shabana would have become only the fourth man to achieve this feat, after the two legendary Pakistanis, Jansher and Jahangir Khan, and the great Australian, Geoff Hunt.
David, the world number one, endured a career crisis last year when she lost both the British and World Open titles and had set her heart on getting them back in 2008.
Having regained the British five months ago in Liverpool, she now repeated the achievement at the tour s most important tournament, beating the surprise finalist from England, Vicky Botwright 5-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-9.
I feel relief that I actually won it this time round. I learned so much from losing (the world title last year), when everyone was wondering what had happened. But Liz (Irving, her coach) knew what we had to do, and we did it. I ve learnt so many new things, said the Asian star.
I feel all sorts of things. There are all mixed emotions because this world title is clearly a different feeling, coming after losing it. But emotionally I am still quite stunned. -AFP
