World Junior Champion Nouran Gohar Shocks Nicol David in Shanghai Quarters by Nathan Clarke September 4, 2015 -
17-year-old Egyptian Nouran Gohar stunned former World No.1 Nicol David
to move into the semi-finals of the 2015 Stars On The Bund China Open
in Shanghai earlier today.
Gohar, the World No.13 from Cairo who won the World Junior
Championships earlier this year, produced one of the finest
performances of her career to reinforce her credentials as one of the
brightest talents on the tour as she fought from a game down to run out
a 3-1 victor and move into the last four.
Defeat ensures that David, who this month lost the World No.1 ranking
for the first time in nine-years, will face an uphill task to recover
the coveted ranking spot from her successor Raneem El Welily - who
breezed into the last four after her opponent, Hong Kong’s Annie Au,
was forced to retire through injury.
El Welily will now take on American number one Amanda Sobhy in the
semi-finals when she will be hoping to secure passage to a seventh
final in her last eight appearances on the PSA World Tour - where
victory would help her maintain hold of the World No.1 ranking in
October.
In the men’s PSA M100 tournament Leo Au continued his outstanding run
of form, following up back-to-back victories over former World No.1
James Willstrop and current World No.7 Simon Rösner with an impressive
3-1 defeat of World No.9 Mathieu Castagnet.
World No.33 Au produced a fine display to overcome Castagnet in a
performance that sees him move into the semi-finals to face World No.3
Gregory Gaultier - where he’ll be aiming to make it a quartet of
giant-killing acts.
The other half of the draw is an all-Egyptian fare between World No.6
Omar Mosaad and World No.12 Marwan Elshorbagy, after both came through
in straight games against Borja Golan and Max Lee, respectively.
