The Optasia Championships get underway next week with 48 players descending on Wimbledon for the Gold event. Women’s top seed Hania El Hammamy is back to defend her title, but has strong competition for the trophy in the form of eight-time World Champion Nour ElSherbini.
The pair are not only playing for the tournament win but also for the World Number One ranking.
El Hammamy reached the top ranking in November 2025 after claiming all three of the opening major titles of the season. Since those three, the major titles have been shared between El Hammamy and ElSherbini with the latter winning the Hong Kong Open and Windy City Open. Those wins have taken ElSherbini to world number two and given her a chance to steal the top ranking from El Hammamy in the 30th March rankings.
As the defending champion, El Hammamy needs to win the event once again in order to not lose any points from her ranking. ElSherbini though, has no points to defend as she didn’t feature in the event last year, so the points gained in Wimbledon will be added to the existing ones that make up her ranking.
A win for El Hammamy guarantees her position at the top of the world rankings, but a win for ElSherbini – or if shocks happen then simply bettering El Hammamy’s finish – will send her back to World #1 for the first time since December 2024.
The Optasia Championships commence at 12.00 (GMT) next Tuesday with all the action streamed live on SQUASHTV.