Mohamed El Shorbagy

Mohamed ElShorbagy

Full name	Mohamed Hossam ElShorbagy
Nickname(s)	The Beast of Alexandria
Country	Egypt
Born	(1991-01-12) January 12, 1991 Alexandria, Egypt
Residence	Bristol, England
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	83 kg (183 lb)
Turned pro	2006
Retired	Active
Plays	Right Handed
Coached by	Jonah Barrington, David Palmer, Hadrian Stiff, Graham Williams
Racquet used	Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 S Basaltex Multiaxial
Website	https://www.facebook.com/shorbagysquash/
Men's singles
Highest ranking	No. 1 (November, 2014)
Current ranking	No. 1 (March, 2018)
Title(s)	29
Tour final(s)	44
World Open	F (2012, 2014) W (2017)
Medal record Men's squash Representing Egypt World Team Championships 2011 Paderborn Team
Updated on March, 2018.

Mohamed Elshorbagy, (born January 12, 1991 in Alexandria) is a professional squash player who represents Egypt. He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 1 in November 2014 and in March 2018.

Career Overview

One of the most talented players on the PSA World Tour, Mohamed ElShorbagy has flown up the world rankings since joining the PSA in 2006 as a 15-year old schoolboy under the tutelage of the legendary Jonah Barrington.

The Alexandria-born star rose to prominence in 2007 after he became the first player in history to secure a maiden PSA World Tour title at a five star event.

He then entered the record books again soon after, becoming only the second man after Ramy Ashour to win the World Junior Championship twice when he triumphed in 2008 and 2009. The Egyptian came close to winning the senior World Championship in 2012 after besting James Willstrop in a five-game semi-final thriller but lost out to compatriot Ramy Ashour in the final.

In 2013 he claimed his first World Series win in the Qatar Classic and exhibited some supreme form throughout the 2014 campaign, winning five events including World Series tournaments at the Hong Kong and US Opens.

Elshorbagy enters the record books behind only Pakistani legends Jahangir and Jansher Khan, who both topped the charts aged 18, and compatriot Ramy Ashour who became number one aged 22, courtesy of his victory over Grégory Gaultier in the semi-finals of the 2014 Delaware Investments US Open and Nick Matthew's defeat to four-time World Champion Amr Shabana in the other last four encounter. "It feels unbelievable right now," said Elshorbagy. "It's been a dream to get to that spot and I can't believe I'm there right now. I came into this tournament knowing there was a big chance to get that World No.1 ranking for the first time in my life." His younger brother Marwan Elshorbagy, the World No.5, is also a talented squash player. In 2013 he made it to the semifinals at the Kuwait PSA Cup a World Series Platinum event.

In 2014, El Shorbagy opened his year by making the semifinals of Tournament of champions; he lost to Grégory Gaultier in four games. In the PSA World Series Finals, El Shorbagy recorded his first win over Ramy Ashour, beating Ashour 11–5, 11–5 in the round-robin stage. Elshorbagy lost a heartbreaking match against Tarek Momen after having match points. El Shorbagy beat James Willstrop 11–9, 11–7, recording his second win in the round-robin stage and also qualifying him for the semifinals. In the semifinals Elshorbagy beat Nick Mathew in five games to reach the final. Elshorbagy was playing Ramy Ahsour, whom he beat earlier that week; Ashour recorded two wins after their match to qualify to the semis, and then Ashour beat Gaultier to set up a rematch. Ashour this time was the victor, winning in a tough 4 games. El Shorbagy made the semifinals of the Windy City Open, again losing to Gaultier in four games. El Shorbagy continued good form by making the final of the 2014 El Gouna International. He got revenge on Gaultier, beating him in four games, but lost in the final to countryman Ramy Ashour in four games.

He lost a second World Championship final, against compatriot Ashour, during the 2014 tournament in Qatar in what was dubbed one of the greatest squash matches ever. The Egyptian recovered from his World Championship heartbreak to lift the Tournament of Champions title in January 2015 and, after finishing runner-up at both the Windy City Open and the El Gouna International, he won the British Open for the first time in his career, beating Gaultier in the final. ElShorbagy lifted the British Grand Prix title in September 2015 before celebrating 12 months at the summit of the World Rankings the following month. After claiming another PSA World Series triumph at the Qatar Classic in November, he dropped out of the World Championship at third round stage after a shock exit to James Willstrop as his search for the sport’s biggest prize continued.

However, a spell-binding run of form from December 2015 to April 2016 saw ElShorbagy dominate the PSA World Tour, bringing him up to six successive World Series title wins, including defending his crown at the British Open after ending a four-match winless run against Ramy Ashour. During that period, ElShorbagy also broke Ashour’s record for the highest ever World Rankings points average in April, a record he then shattered again a month later. A superb season was rounded off in style when he was crowned the 2016 PSA Men’s Player of the Year.

ElShorbagy started the 2016/17 season fairly strongly with another victory at the U.S. Open, but he missed out on becoming the first player to win the Qatar Classic on three successive occasions after a final defeat to compatriot Karim Abdel Gawad - just a month after Gawad had beaten him in the World Championship semi-final. However, the following month saw ElShorbagy become only the third Egyptian player to spend a whole year at the summit of the World Rankings after he topped the December 2016 World Rankings. ElShorbagy suffered a slump in form during the 2016/17 season with the former World No.1 suffering from his longest title drought in three years. The Egyptian lost in the semi-final of the British Open to England’s Nick Matthew and then exited at the quarter final stage of the El Gouna International Squash Open after defeat by young brother, Marwan Elshorbagy.  However, ElShorbagy’s fortunes changed at the season-ending PSA Dubai World Series Finals as he downed England’s James Willstrop 3-0 in the final to finish the season with a title.

El Shorbagy's family name is derived from an old Turkish military rank, Çorbacı.

World Open final appearances

1 title & 2 runner-up

Outcome	Year	Location	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2012	Doha, Qatar	Ramy Ashour	2-11, 11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8
Runner-up	2014	Doha, Qatar	Ramy Ashour	13-11, 7-11, 5-11, 11-5, 14-12
Winner	2017	Manchester, England	Marwan Elshorbagy	11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 (71m)

Major World Series final appearances

British Open: 2 final (2 titles, 0 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2015	Grégory Gaultier	11-9, 6-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-5
Winner	2016	Ramy Ashour	11-2, 11-5, 11-9

Hong Kong Open: 3 finals (3 titles, 0 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2014	Grégory Gaultier	11-9, 11-2, 4-11, 8-11, 11-4
Winner	2015	Cameron Pilley	11-6, 11-8, 11-6
Winner	2017	Ali Farag	11-6, 5-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-3 (65m)

Qatar Classic: 4 finals (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2013	Nick Matthew	11-5, 5-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-4
Winner	2015	Grégory Gaultier	11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10
Runner-Up	2016	Karim Abdel Gawad	10-12, 13-15, 7-11
Winner	2017	Tarek Momen	11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7

US Open: 3 finals (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2014	Amr Shabana	8-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-3
Winner	2016	Nick Matthew	10-12, 12-14, 11-1, 11-4, 3-0 rtd
Runner-up	2017	Ali Farag	10-12, 9-11, 8-11

External links

• Mohamed El Shorbagy at the Professional Squash Association (archived)
• Mohamed El Shorbagy at Squash Info