KARACHI: Egyptian players Karim El Hammamy and Rowan Elaraby claimed the men’s and women’s titles, respectively, at the Venice ABC Open 2026 international squash tournament which concluded here at the DHA Creek Club on Sunday.
Second seed El Hammamy defeated top seed Curtis Malik of England 3-0 in the men’s final with the set score being 11-6, 12-10, 11-3 in 48 minutes.
El Hammamy, ranked World No 49, overcame an injury to beat Malik, World No 25, to lift the title at the $82,000 tournament.
In the women’s final, fourth seed Rowan Elaraby of Egypt defeated second seed Amina El Rihany of Egypt 3-0 to win the crown.
Rowan, World No 47, did not allow her opponent to settle down and sealed an emphatic 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 victory.
Sindh’s Labour Minister Saeed Ghani also witnessed the finals while DHA Bahria Administrator Brig (retd) Ameer Nawaz Khan was the guest of honour. Squash legend Jahangir Khan was also present.
In the semi-finals on Saturday Curtis overcame Yassin Shohdy of Egypt 3-2 in a closely contested battle. Karim on the other hand conquered Yee Xian Siow of Malaysia 3-0 in the pre-final.
Egypt’s Raneem Elaraby and Amina El Rihany on Saturday advanced to the final of the women’s section.
Fourth seed Elaraby, on Saturday whacked compatriot Haya Rizk 3-1 in the semi-final.
El Rihany also produced a strong performance, overcoming third seed Nour Shahin by the same score-line in the other semi-final.
It was a PSA copper event in which 24 men’s and 23 women took part.
Pakistan’s experienced players Asim Khan and Nasir Iqbal were also part of the event but they failed to deliver.
Nasir exited at the first hurdle while Asim fell in the quarter-finals.
The event missed rising star Noor Zaman and Mohammad Ashab Irfan due to their engagement in the Silicon Valley Open in the United States when Noor exited at the quarter-finals stage after upsetting world No4 Karim Gawad of Egypt in the pre-quarter-final.