World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad (second left) of Egypt celebrates winning the Qatar Classic 2016 final in Doha yesterday. Gawad defeated World No.1 Mohamed El Shorbagy in the all-Egyptian final at the Khalifa International Squash Complex. Qatar Squash Fe
The reigning world squash champion Karim Abdel Gawad beat two-time defending champion and world number one Mohamed El Shorbagy in an all-Egyptian final of the 2016 Qatar Classic squash tournament at the Khalfa Tennis and Squash Complex yesterday.
In a repeat of their world championship semi-final in Cairo, in-form Gawad won in straight games, despite fiercely contested first two sets which went to extra points.
The first game took 30 minutes, the second over 20, but the third was much quicker as Gawad closed out the match on his second match ball after 67 minutes. Commenting on his back to back victories, the champion Gawad said: Being World Champion and Qatar Champion sounds good, really good. I’m living the dream”
"Mohamed and I have been competing in the juniors since the age of eight. I know there are many more battles to come. This is only the beginning,” the Egyptian world champion said.
“Very happy with the way I performed today. From the first time, I was under pressure. When you are a world champion, people expect you to win and that you have a big chance to win. That is a new element I had to integrate in my preparation.”
“I wanted to take a good start, but also I knew that I could never relax against somebody like Mohamed. And I’m very happy to win in three against him. It’s never finished with him. But next season, I’m aware I’ll have to make sure I’m very consistent if I want to stay in competition with the top boys. I always enjoy coming to Qatar, it feels like home, so many Egyptian support it’s amazing,” Gawad said.
World number one El Shorbagy said that Karim deserves to be the champion.
“It was a great match, and the best player on the day won,” he said.
