Egyptian Duo Gawad and Orfi Top Draws For Rich Venus Karachi Open

SQUASH - Int News 03 Dec, 2025

Egyptian Duo Gawad and Orfi Top Draws For Rich Venus Karachi Open

Karachi (Sports News): The draws have been released for the fourth Gold event of the 25/26 PSA Squash Tour season with former World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad and current World Junior Champion Amina Orfi topping the draws.

The event will take place between 6-11 January 2026, the first World Events competition of the new year. The event will take place at the DA Creek Club in Karachi, the same venue that hosted the World U23 Championships in April 2025.

Men’s top seed Karim Abdel Gawad is no stranger to victory on Pakistan soil, he claimed the Karachi Open title back in 2022 and Pakistan Open in 2018. He currently holds an eight-match win streak in Karachi and will be hoping to claim a third title in the city to start the new year in strong style. He’ll take on either Ryunosuke Tsukue or Curtis Malik in round two and features in the same quarter as No.8 seed Eain Yow Ng.

Former World No.3 Marwan ElShorbagy is the No.2 seed for the event as he looks to claim his third PSA title of the season. ElShorbagy’s only visit to Pakistan on the PSA Tour came in 2017 where he claimed the Pakistan Open, dropping only one game on his way to lifting the trophy. ElShorbagy will take on either Fares Dessouky or Muhammad Ashab Irfan in round two before a potential quarter final clash with Aly Abou Eleinen.

Egypt’s Youssef Ibrahim recently reached his highest career ranking of World No.7 after positive results at the U.S Open and China Open. The Egyptian has been finding a consistency to his game of late that has meant for a surge in Ibrahim’s form. His recent 3-0 victory over Paul Coll marks one of the wins of his career as he targets more success this season. He sits in the same half as top seed Gawad.

Former World Champion and World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy completes the top four seeds in the men’s event, set to compete in his third event in Pakistan. The England No.1 has had a tough start to the 25/26 season but will be determined to start 2026 on the front foot as he targets more PSA records. He is in the bottom half with brother Marwan but will need to navigate his way past a potential clash with No.5 seed Youssef Soliman.

Current World No.3 and World Junior Champion Amina Orfi heads the draw for the women’s event as she looks to claim her third Gold event victory of the season. Orfi’s form has been superb so far this season, failing to reach the final only once in her six events. She’ll be looking to add another title to her resume in Karachi and chase down El Hammamy and Gohar in the world rankings.

Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam is the No.2 seed for the women’s event. The current World No.6 has tasted Gold event success in the past, winning the London Classic in 2024. Since then, Subramaniam has reached one Gold final and will see the Karachi Open as a big opportunity to reach a title decider. She’s in the same half as No.3 seed Fayrouz Aboelkheir but will need to come through a potential quarter final with the returning Rowan Elaraby and a round two clash with either Shahin or Garas first.

As mentioned, Fayrouz Aboelkheir is the third seed for the event. The Egyptian has shown glimpses of how dangerous she can be, most notably reaching the CIB Egyptian Open semi-finals after beating 8x World Champion Nour ElSherbini. She’s also claimed a title this season at the Open Squash Classic Bronze event. The teenager is still yet to break the top 10 in her career but given the performances that she’s produced, that seems only a matter of time.

Three Egyptians fill the No.4, 5, 6 and 7 spots as Salma Hany, Nada Abbas, Rowan Elaraby and Farida Mohamed will all look to cause upsets in the latest Gold event. Elaraby’s entry is of particular significance as this will mark her first event since suffering an injury at the 2025 World Championships. The Egyptian was forced to retire in her last 16 clash with Georgina Kennedy and hasn’t featured on tour since. She’s set to return to action in January whilst Malaysia’s Aira Azman sits at her highest seeding in a Gold event as No.8 seed.

Local interest in the event is headed by Men’s World U23 Champion Noor Zaman, he’s joined by Mohammad Ashab Irfan, Tayyab Aslam and Nasir Iqbal whilst Sana Bahadar and Mariam Malik feature in the women’s event.

Men’s draw

[1] Karim Gawad (EGY) Bye

Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) vs Curtis Malik (ENG)

Iker Pajares (ESP) vs [WC] Tayyab Aslam (PAK)

[8] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) Bye

[6[ Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) Bye

[WC] Nasir Iqbal (PAK) vs Moustafa Elsirty (EGY)

Alex Lau (HKG) vs Sanjay Jeeva (MAS)

[3] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) Bye

[4] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) Bye

Matias Knudsen (COL) vs Karim El Hammamy (EGY)

Noor Zaman (PAK) vs Melvil Scianimanico (FRA)