Ramy Ashour Takes Kuwait Open Title

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

File:  Ramy Ashour (front) plays Amr Shabana (both Egyptian) in November 2009 at the World Open tournament in Kuwait.

World number one squash player Ramy Ashour solidified his ranking with a victory in the Kuwait Open today. Ashour defeated his Egyptian compatriot Amr Shabana today in a tightly contested affair. Ramy rebounded from a first set loss to win the next three sets, including 11-1 in the fourth. Ashour leveled the all-time series with Shabana at two matches each. This was the fourth year in a row that these two countrymen faced each other in the finals of this tournament.

“Well, for me the whole week for me was very tough,” Ashour told www.squashsite.co.uk afterwards, “as I played a lot of strong players which I had to be solid in front of, otherwise I wouldn’t have made it to the final – and these matches give you experience and a lot of confidence in your body and mind. Tonight’s match was different as I had to push myself for another day against a four times World Open champion, which makes it very special to have a win over him. He is a great player.”

Shabana was full of compliments for Ashour as well, “After the third, I let go mentally just a bit, and Ramy ate me alive. This guy is unbelievable, you let go for a second, and he eats you alive.”
The next big tournament for these and other luminaries of international squash will be later this month in Qatar.

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