KUWAIT CITY: Egypt’s Amr Shabana won a fourth World Open title on Saturday defeating compatriot and defending champion Ramy Ashour 11-8, 11-5, 11-5.
An angry Ashour was in tears at the end as his countryman equaled the achievement of Geoff Hunt, the great Australian, winning four world crowns.
Only Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan, the legendary Pakistanis who dominated the sport in the 1980s and early 1990s, have won more than Shabana – but despite its historical context the final never quite lived up to expectations.
Two of the most gifted players of their era did not produce their absolute best, and instead it was the adrenalin charge generated by the one-sided outcome which was most dramatic.
Ashour was arguing with referee Nasser Zahran as early as 6-8 in the first game, and by the second game he was banging the handle of his racket angrily on the wall.
When he then lashed the ball furiously against the back wall in the general direction of the Egyptian referee in dissent at being refused a let, Ashour was given a code-of-conduct warning.
And in the third game Ashour sarcastically asked “can I get that? and on being told by Zahran that he could, he proffered an ironic “thank you .
A few minutes later Ashour had tournament officials dashing about in alarm, for he was nowhere to be seen just as an elaborate and colorful prize-giving ceremony was due to begin.
“I have nothing to say, Ashour commented when he returned. “All I can say is that he played very well. He was more consistent than I was. The referees f…..ed me up.
Shabana thought differently about them.
“It’s a difficult job, and it’s never going to be 100 percent, he said.
“You get calls you don’t like, and you have to live with them in squash.
On this evidence a much bigger factor was that Shabana, aged 30, handled the pressure of the big occasion better than his eight-years-younger opponent.
But Shabana would not be coaxed into saying so. Asked whether his greater experience was decisive, he said: “Ramy’s going to get to quite a few finals before he has done. It was my day today, but I am sure he will get plenty more.
It was evident that Shabana was playing a solid match by the way he took the first game, taking his opponent in short to make him move without taking outrageous risks, and progressing from 4-6 to 9-6 and then to 10-7 with the help of an opponent who three times hit the tin with unforced errors.
And it was evident by the mid-point of the second game that Ashour was in trouble.
He became disturbed by the sound of a child crying, before being sucked into a trio of rallies in which both men went for winning shots with return of serves.
The third saw Ashour hit the tin again, putting him 5-9 behind. He was two games down very soon afterwards, hurtling out of the court in a disgruntled mood and placing a towel over his face.
There was rarely much likelihood that he would stage a comeback in the third.
Shabana hit a hot streak at the start of this game, racing to a 4-0 lead, and the remainder of the game was notable for spectacular dives by both players to retrieve the ball and a warning to Ashour’s brother Hisham for illegal coaching.
Within a split second of the finish, completed by a sharp Shabana volley which found the nick between the sidewall and the floor, making the ball roll dead, Ashour had gone, too upset to face anyone.
