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This Egyptian Female Squash Player Made Sports History Yet Again

Photo: Getty

Egyptian squash duo Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini defeated world number ones, and fellow Egyptians, Mohamed El Shorbagy and Raneem El Welily inside New York’s Grand Central Terminal on Saturday to win the men and women’s Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tournament of Champions.

In the women’s final, defending champion El Sherbini defeated El Welily 11-9, 11-8, 11-8, making her the first woman to win the Tournament of Champions three times— and she’s only 23-years-old. “This is my lucky place, this tournament was my first ever Platinum win and now it’s the first one I’ve won three times,” El Sherbini told press after the victory. “It’s really big to put my name on this trophy and to win this tournament, but to win it three times is something that I will never forget in my life,” she stated.

The Egyptian athlete is no stranger to making sports history. In 2009, she became the youngest world champion in the history of the sport when she won the women’s title at the World Junior squash Championships at just nine-years-old. In 2015, she became the youngest woman to win the Women’s World Championship, which was held in Malaysia, and then a year later retained her title by beating her most recent opponent, El Welily, at the the Women’s World Championship held in El Gouna, Egypt.

The Alexandria-born squash player’s athletic prowess certainly runs in her family. El Sherbini first developed an interest in the sport when she was six-years-old by watching her older brother’s squash lessons, and revealed that her father used to be a football player.

El Sherbini and Farag will both take home US $23,000 in prize money, and have qualified for the PSA World Tour Finals, set to take place in Dubai in June.

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