Gohar Claims World #1 spot after El Welily retirement
Egypt’s Nouran Gohar has become the new women’s World #1 for the first time following the retirement of previous incumbent Raneem El Welily.
El Welily had topped the rankings for 19 months, while Gohar had sat at #2 for the previous five months following wins at the U.S. Open and Carol Weymuller Open earlier this season.
However, El Welily’s retirement means that the 22-year-old will now step onto court following the suspension of the PSA World Tour as the sport’s leading female player.
“It feels amazing to reach World No.1, I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was a kid and since I first held a squash racket in my hand,” said Gohar.
“Reaching this point in my career has always been a dream, especially because I reached the No.2 spot back in 2017, but at that time it didn’t feel like the No.1 spot was getting any closer.
Over the last two seasons I’ve been feeling more solid, more consistent, and I had some really great battles, so I felt stronger on the tour, especially after winning the British Open and U.S. Open back-to-back. But I never thought it would be coming this soon.
“I was in shock when I heard about Raneem’s retirement, I didn’t expect it at all by any means. She was the one who called me and she told me before announcing it on social media because she wanted it to be something personal.
“I had really mixed emotions, I was sad that one of the legends of the game and a good friend and teammate was retiring, she is like a big sister to me and we have shared a lot of memories together.”
Nouran Gohar Photos
While the men’s and women’s PSA World Rankings are currently frozen due to the suspension of the PSA World Tour, El Welily’s retirement sees her come out of the rankings, meaning everyone else moves up a place.
Sarah-Jane Perry, Hania El Hammamy, Salma Hany, Yathreb Adel, Rowan Elaraby, Nele Gilis, Nadine Shahin, Tinne GIlis, Nada Abbas and Coline Aumard all thus achieve their best ever World Rankings.
The men’s rankings remain unchanged, with Egypt’s Mohamed ElShorbagy staying at #1 for a sixth month in succession ahead of Ali Farag , Karim Abdel Gawad, Tarek Momen and Paul Coll.