Defending Champion Dessouky is out

BY ALAN THATCHER

Our reigning champion Fares Dessouky has pulled out of the 2023 GillenMarkets Canary Wharf Classic.

The PSA announced his withdrawal today, just three days after Dessouky repeated his Canary Wharf Classic 2022 final win over Mostafa Asal in the Black Ball Open in Cairo.

Dessouky then lost a hugely controversial quarter-final battle with former world champion Tarek Momen, who saved seven match balls on the way to an 89-minute victory.

The 28-year-old Dessouky, from Alexandria, was runner-up at Canary Wharf to Nick Matthew in 2017 but his career has been plagued by injuries.

Today’s PSA announcement said:

Egypt’s Fares Dessouky, who was victorious at East Wintergarden in March 2022, will not be back to defend his GillenMarkets Canary Wharf Classic crown.

The Egyptian, who is currently the World No.10, got the better of now-World No.1 Mostafa Asal in the final of the PSA World Tour Gold level tournament twelve months ago. However, due to an injury sustained in Cairo, he will not feature in this year’s edition.

Dessouky suffered an oblique tear during his quarter final contest with compatriot Tarek Momen at the Black Ball Squash Open, and will be out for around a month, meaning he will also miss the Optasia Championships and British Open.

Qatari No.1 Abdulla Al Tamimi replaces the injured Egyptian in the 9/16 seeding bracket. He will now take on Scotland’s Greg Lobban on the opening day.

Coming into the draw will be Switzerland’s Dimitri Steinmann. The Swiss No.2 will now face Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad, who returned from injury at the Black Ball Squash Open, in the first round of the best-of-three competition.