Nouran Gohar & Mostafa Asal set to headline Optasia Championships 2025

The always-popular Optasia Championships returns to the PSA Squash Tour calendar this year, bringing top-class squash action to the Wimbledon Club in London from 25th 30th March.

The fourth edition of the event will see reigning World Champion and World #1 Nouran Gohar lead the women’s draw whilst World #2 Mostafa Asal tops the men’s draw.

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While the men’s event has always been at Gold level, this year the women’s event has been upgraded from Bronze level to match the men’s status as a Gold tournament.

World Top Three set to contest Women’s event

This upgrade has secured the entry of the top three female players in the world: Gohar, Nour ElSherbini and Hania El Hammamy.

Gohar currently sits at the top of the PSA World Rankings after enjoying a stellar 2024. She claimed her first World Championship title back in May and has gone on to claim four major event titles since then, including the prestigious British Open. Gohar’s rivalry with ElSherbini reached its peak last year as the pair contested 10 finals against each other. The knowledgeable Wimbledon crowd will no doubt want to witness the latest chapter to their legendary tale.

ElSherbini, a seven-time World Champion, is deservedly regarded as one of the greats of the game. She held the World #1 spot for 16 months before recently losing it to Gohar in December 2024. The second seed looks desperate to reclaim her spot at the top and after losing out in the semi-finals of the recent J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions in New York, will be determined to produce a world class performance to pile the pressure onto Gohar.

2024 was a difficult year for World #3 Hania El Hammamy on the PSA Squash Tour. The Egyptian was trophy-less throughout the entirety of the year and looked to have fallen significantly behind Gohar and ElSherbini in both ranking and on court performance. The 24-year-old bounced back in style in the first major event of 2025, beating both of her rivals to win the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions -a first win since 2023 and a potential springboard for her to return to challenging the leading pair.

El Hammamy finds herself in the same side of the draw as Gohar with the two set to meet in the semi-finals if they both advance.

The #4 seeding spot has gone to England #1 Georgina Kennedy. The Bexley-based World #6 has been suffering with injury of late but will be hoping to be firing on all cylinders as she competes less than 15 miles away from where she first learnt to play the sport. Kennedy will be looking to harness the full support of the London crowd and claim a first win over one of the ‘Big Three’ if she reaches the semi-final stage. She sits in the same half as second seed ElSherbini.

Asal tops men’s draw ahead of defending champion Coll

World #2 and World Championship finalist Mostafa Asal was beaten in the semi-finals in last season’s event but returns as the top seed this year, eager to claim another title and make a charge towards the World #1 spot.

Asal isn’t far behind 2022 champion Ali Farag, and after losing earlier than his seeding in New York, knows that taking advantage of events where Farag hasn’t entered will be crucial.

Defending champion Paul Coll beat Asal in the semi-finals last year before going on to win an epic final against Farag to claim his fourth title of the 23/24 season. This campaign hasn’t gone to plan so far for the New Zealand #1, Coll has struggled to reach the heights that he set himself last year and is desperately searching to find his top form.

He’ll be hoping that with his coach Rob Owen in attendance, that can help him perform at his best to claim back to back titles in Wimbledon.

British #1 Joel Makin has made himself incredibly hard to beat this season. The Welshman claimed his biggest title to date in San Francisco earlier in the campaign as well as securing semi-final finishes at the Qatar Classic and Hong Kong Open Platinum events, losing to Asal on both occasions.

Makin is always a crowd favourite in events on UK soil and loves to compete in front of a British crowd. He sits in the same half as Asal, so would potentially need to defeat the top seed in order to make a run for a second Gold event win of the season.

Plenty of home interest surrounds the event with the Elshorbagy brothers, Declan James, Curtis Malik and wildcards Charlie Lee and Sam Osborne-Wylde providing the English hopes in the men’s event. In the women’s draw Sarah-Jane Perry, Jasmine Hutton, Tesni Murphy, Katie Malliff, Alicia Mead, Torrie Malik, Grace Gear and wildcard Lisa Aitken will provide the British hopes.

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