Egypt’s Mostafa Asal and Sana Ibrahim have been crowned the 2022 FISU World University Championship Squash individual champions after defeating compatriots Moustafa El Sirty and Nour Aboulmakarim, respectively.
21-year-old World No.3 Asal, a student of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, went into his final against El Sirty with a dominant head-to-head record, with ‘the Raging Bull’ having won all four of their previous meetings.
In a rapid final, streamed live on worldsquash.tv, Asal needed just 28 minutes to dismantle the No.2 seed, with the 21-year-old coasting to an 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 win. With the 3-0 victory, Asal completed the coup of winning the entire tournament without dropping a game.
The women’s final was contested by two students of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport. Top seed Ibrahim, like Asal in the men’s final, went in as the favourite thanks to her dominant head-to-head record, with Ibrahim winning all six of their previous meetings.
In a gripping clash, momentum swung back and forth. Ibrahim made a brutal start and looked set to be notching the most routine of victories after taking the opening game 11-1, only for Aboulmakarim to fight back with an 11-4 win and then an 11-8 victory to take the lead.
Ibrahim then struck back herself with an 11-8 win of her own in the fourth game to set up a tantalising fifth, which was cruelly brought to a halt part-way through when Aboulmakarim was forced to retire.
Following the conclusion of the individual championships, the team event begins, with the competition drawing to a close on November 13.
Result: 2022 FISU World University Championship Squash – men’s individual final
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [2] Moustafa El Sirty (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 (28m)
Result: 2022 FISU World University Championship Squash – women’s individual final
[1] Sana Ibrahim (EGY) bt [2] Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) 3-2: 11-1, 4-11, 8-11, 11-8, 5-2 ret. (67m)