16/06/2020
PSA Players of the Year
ElShorbagy and El Sherbini Named PSA Players of the
Year
Egyptian
pair Mohamed ElShorbagy and Nour El Sherbini have been crowned the
2019/20 PSA Players of the Year after being chosen by a combination of
votes from both the PSA Awards Committee and fans on the PSA World Tour
website.
ElShorbagy has picked up the PSA Male Player of the Year award for the
fourth time in his career after a season that saw him collect four PSA
World Tour titles, including the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions
crown, and overthrow 2018/19 Male Player of the Year Ali Farag to
reclaim the World No.1 spot after an 11-month absence.
ElShorbagy also got the better of Farag to win the St. James’s Place
Canary Wharf Classic in March, which was the final men’s PSA World Tour
event to take place before the suspension of the tour due to the global
COVID-19 pandemic. That match was named by squash fans as the PSA Men’s
Match of the Season.
Kiwi Paul Coll came second in the voting following the best season of
his career to date. In addition to cementing himself as a top five
player, Coll claimed honours at the Open de France in September, while
he also finished as runner-up at the PSA Men’s World Championship, Windy
City Open presented by the Walter Family and the Troilus Gold Canada
Cup.
Meanwhile, El Sherbini has been named the PSA Female Player of the Year
for the third time following a season which saw her win two PSA World
Tour titles and reach the final of all four tournaments she competed in.
A knee injury kept El Sherbini out of action until October but, in her
first PSA World Tour event in four months, she stunned the squash world
when she toppled World No.1 Raneem El Welily in front of the iconic
Great Pyramid of Giza to capture her fourth PSA Women’s World
Championship trophy on the day of her 24th birthday.
El
Sherbini also overcame El Welily to win the Windy City Open trophy in
March, while she achieved runner-up finishes at the Tournament of
Champions and Black Ball Open, the latter of which was the final women’s
PSA World Tour event to be held before the tour suspension.
El Welily, the 2018/19 PSA Female Player of the Year, finished second.
The 31-year-old held onto her World No.1 ranking for the entirety of the
season and won the Oracle NetSuite Open, as well as reaching finals at
the PSA Women’s World Championship, China Open and the Windy City Open.
For the fourth year in a row El Welily won the women’s PSA Spirit of
Squash Award. The award is voted for by PSA players and is presented to
the players who best demonstrated true sportsmanship during the season.
The men's award went to Ali Farag, who wins it for the fourth time in
five years.
Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy collected the PSA Young Female Player of the
Year award after beating El Sherbini to win her maiden PSA Platinum
tournament at the Black Ball Open. The 19-year-old also claimed a
notable semi-final finish at the PSA Women’s World Championship, coming
from two games down to stun World No.4 Camille Serme in the last eight.
Her compatriot Mostafa Asal took the men’s honour after breaking into
the top 20 and reaching his first ever PSA Platinum quarter-final at the
Tournament of Champions - beating former World No.1 Gregory Gaultier en
route.
The Tournament of Champions was also the scene for the newly-created PSA
Moment of the Season award, which went to France’s Camille Serme after a
spell-binding run inside New York’s Grand Central Terminal saw her beat
the world’s top three players - El Welily, Nouran Gohar and El Sherbini
- to capture her first major trophy in three years.
That match with Gohar was voted by squash fans as the the PSA Women’s
Match of the Season, while Serme also won the PSA Women’s Shot of the
Season award. Germany’s Raphael Kandra won the PSA Men’s Shot of the
Season.
This year also saw the creation of two new awards to celebrate
outstanding achievement on the PSA Challenger Tour, with Mexico’s Leonel
Cardenas and Canada’s Danielle Letourneau being crowned the inaugural
PSA Challenger Tour Players of the Year.
Cardenas won titles at the Kelowna Open and Securian Open throughout the
2019/20 season, as well as achieving runner-up finishes at three other
events. Meanwhile, Letourneau claimed a trio of title wins - Seattle
Open, Calgary Open and Queen City Open.
The final award, the PSA Services to Squash award, went to former World
Squash Federation (WSF) Media Director Howard Harding. The award was
presented by the PSA Foundation in recognition of his outstanding
commitment and service to the sport over 20 plus years.
Harding had served as WSF Media Director since 1996 before standing down
earlier this year, while he also held a similar role at both the PSA and
the Women’s Squash Association (WSA) until 2014.
PSA Male Player of the Year
Winner: Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)
Runner-up: Paul Coll (NZL)
PSA Female Player of the Year
Winner: Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Runner-up: Raneem El Welily (EGY)
PSA Male Young Player of the Year
Winner: Mostafa Asal (EGY)
Runner-up: Victor Crouin (FRA)
PSA Female Young Player of the Year
Winner: Hania El Hammamy (EGY)
Runner-up: Nouran Gohar (EGY)
PSA Challenger Tour Male Player of the Year
Winner: Leonel Cardenas (MEX)
Runner-up: Vikram Malhotra (IND)
PSA Challenger Tour Female Player of the Year
Winner: Danielle Letourneau (CAN)
Runner-up: Sabrina Sobhy (USA)
PSA Men’s Spirit of Squash Award
Winner: Ali Farag (EGY)
PSA Women’s Spirit of Squash Award
Winner: Raneem El Welily (EGY)
PSA Services to Squash
Awarded to Howard Harding
PSA Men’s Shot of the Season
Winner: Raphael Kandra (GER)
PSA Women’s Shot of the Season
Winner: Camille Serme (FRA)
PSA Men’s Match of the Season
Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) 3-1 Ali Farag (EGY) - 2020 Canary Wharf
Classic Final
PSA Women’s Match of the Season
Camille Serme (FRA) 3-2 Nouran Gohar (EGY) - 2020 Tournament of
Champions Semi-Final
PSA Moment of the Season
Camille Serme (FRA) - Tournament of Champions Victory
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