Marwan ElShorbagy

Marwan ElShorbagy - Bio

Marwan ElShorbagy is one of only four players to win the World Junior Championships twice after compatriot Ramy Ashour, older brother, Mohamed, and Peru’s Diego Elias - and he has built on his initial promise on the PSA World Tour.

ElShorbagy shot to prominence by securing the under-17 British Junior Open and won the under-19 event in 2012. The Egyptian made his World Championship debut at just 17 years of age in 2011 and, after an impressive tournament, made it to the last 16 before being knocked out by then World No.1 James Willstrop.

He won his first PSA World Tour title the same year, winning the Amarex Open in Jordan. ElShorbagy had a good 2013 and won two titles, the Northern Ontario Championship and the Edmonton Open. The rangy Egyptian was in scintillating form at the Internacional Sports Open in June 2014 and saw off Canadian Shawn Delierre 3-0 in the final. He went on to reach the final of the Abierto Mexicano de Raquetas but lost out to Mohamed in the final.

He made a strong start to 2015 as he reached the semi-final stage of the Windy City Open but was beaten again by his brother as his form began to tail off. ElShorbagy was soon back to his best though and superb runner-up finishes at the China Open and the Kolkata International at the outset of the 2015/16 season laid the foundations for his push into the world’s top 10 for the first time in October.

A strong 2016 saw the man from Alexandria stun then World Champion Gregory Gaultier to end a two-year title drought and lift his maiden PSA M70 crown at the Grasshopper Cup in April. He added his second trophy of the season a month later with victory at the Houston Open and followed that up by being named as the 2016 PSA Men’s Young Player of the Year.

ElShorbagy claimed his first ever win over older brother, Mohamed, during February’s 2017 Windy City Open and lightning stuck twice for Marwan as he went onto beat former World No.1 and older brother, Mohamed, once again in the quarter-finals of the El Gouna International Open.

He went on to reach the last four of the Bellevue Classic, China Open and Hong Kong Open, before finishing runner-up to his brother, Mohamed, at the World Championships. The younger ElShorbagy took victory at the Pakistan Open at the end of 2017, beating Mohamed Abouelghar in the final, before then winning the Motor City Open. After a runner-up finish at the Windy City Open in 2018, he also tasted victory at the El Gouna International, beating Ali Farag on home soil.

The younger of the ElShorbagy brothers reached the semi finals of both the Motor City Open and the Canada Cup in 2019, before reaching the quarter finals of the Canary Wharf Classic and the DPD Open. ‘The Jackal’ then won the Wimbledon Club Squash Squared Open in May 2019.

ElShorbagy started the 2019-2020 campaign in good form, reaching the last four of both the J.P. Morgan China Squash Open and the Oracle NetSuite Open in San Francisco, before making it to the quarter-finals of the CIB Egyptian Squash Open held in front of the Pyramids in November.

He then made it through to the semi-finals of the PSA Men’s World Championships in Qatar, before quarter-final appearances at both the Channel VAS Championships and the Motor City Open. His final tournament before the COVID-19 enforced suspension of the Tour came at the St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic, where he made it through to the last four.

The younger of the ElShorbagy brothers made it through to the last four in Manchester, as the sport returned following six months. ‘The Jackal’ then excelled at the CIB PSA World Tour Finals, winning the title with a straight games victory over Karim Abdel Gawad in the final. His good form continued with a semi-final appearance at the CIB Egyptian Open. ElShorbagy then also made it into the last eight of the Qatar Classic, his final tournament of the calendar year.

ElShorbagy started 2021 in the perfect way, as he claimed the CIB PSA Black Ball Squash Open title in his first appearance of the year, beating Fares Dessouky, the man that had been victorious at the same venue three months earlier, in the final.

Through the rest of the year, ‘the Jackal’ continued to make it to the latter stages of the bigger tournaments, including quarter-final results at the PSA World Championships, Allam British Open and CIB Egyptian Open, along with making the semi-finals of the CIB Squash Open Black Ball in December. He followed that with a last eight result at the Houston Open, the first event of 2022.

‘The Jackal’ then made the semis of the Windy City Open Presented by the Walter Family in Chicago, along with quarter final appearances at the Optasia Championships, CIB PSA World Championships and the El Gouna International to round out his 2021-2022 campaign.

ElShorbagy then made four finals in the latter part of 2022, winning the Hong Kong Football Club Open crown in his last appearance of the year. He also finished runner-up at the Open de France de Squash, Oracle NetSuite Open and the Grasshopper Cup.

‘The Jackal’ also made the semis of the U.S. Open in Philadelphia, along with quarter final appearances in the CIB Egyptian Open, Malaysian Open Squash Championships and the Everbright Securities International Hong Kong Squash Open.

ElShorbagy then made back-to-back finals, doing so at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions and the Pittsburgh Open, losing out to Diego Elias on both occasions. He then only made the quarter finals of two more events in the first half of 2023, making the last eight at the Black Ball Squash Open and the British Open.