Nouran
Gohar has been named Player of the Month for October by the
authoritative London-based Squash Player magazine after an astonishing
September in which the 17-year-old Egyptian reached two PSA W50 finals.
She followed up her world junior title in July by qualifying for the
China Open decider, beating world no.1 Nicol David along the way, and
then matched that by making the climax of the Macau Open.
“For
sure September 2015 has been one of the most successful months of my
career, if not the best,” she said. “Being in the final of two 50k
tournaments has been a massive thing for me and I was really, really
happy.
“The highlight was beating the world champion, Nicol David. Nicol has
always been my role model and someone I always look up to, so beating a
true legend like her was one of the most remarkable moments of my life.”
Gohar attributed her September successes – she also defeated British
Open champion Camille Serme in China and top 10 duo Nour El Tayeb and
Annie Au in Macau – to a change in her mental approach.
“I became more confident and started to believe that I was capable of
achieving lots of things,” she explained. “My way of training didn't
change a lot, but I’m now totally dedicated to squash. Before, I used to
go to high school, so I was a part-time player, but now Ihave more time
to train and focus on squash.”
