Nour El Sherbini of Egypt is currently one of the most exciting female players on the World Tour – having won seven world titles with the latest one in Chicago last year and was just one short of Malaysian Nicol David’s record eight. The 28-year-old Egyptian came close to equalising the record when she reached the World Championships final in Cairo this year but unfortunately, she fell short against her long-time rival Nouran Gohar after losing the final in four games. The duo, in fact, dominated all major tournaments this year. El Sherbini took the first two Platinum tournaments of the year when she won in the Tournament of Champions and the Windy City Open before Gohar prevailing in the El Gouna International Squash Open, World Championships, British Open and the World Tour Finals, all with victories over El Sherbini in the final. When the new season began in September, it was El Sherbini’s turn, beating Gohar in three consecutive finals, first the Egyptian Open, followed by Paris Squash and then the Qatar Classic. She became the youngest ever junior World Champion in 2009 when El Sherbini claimed the title at just 13 years old. She broke into the world’s top 50 at just 14 years of age and claimed her first tour title at the Heliopolis Open in 2010. She was the world no.1 for 31 months between 2016 and 2018 and 17 months between 2020-2022. She regained the top ranking in May 2023 for one month but came back to occupy the top position in September until now.