Credit: CVA Squash
Tarek Momen defeated Ali Farag 3-2 in the clash of Egyptians in the final of the Channel VAS Championship at St George’s Hill on Sunday.
Momen played terrifically throughout the entire tournament, eliminating Cameron Pilley, Paul Coll, and Diego Elias without dropping a single game. Momen was also a beaten finalist at this tournament, losing to Coll in 2016.
Farag, the 2017 runner-up, struggled to keep up with the World No.4. The 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9 win ended a four-year title drought for Momen.
“I can’t believe it, it’s been four years since I won a title. Today, I was not sure of the mindset I should have. I called Raneem and I told her when I put pressure on me, it doesn’t work, if I don’t care, it doesn’t work, and if I treat it as any other match it doesn’t work: out of 19 finals, I only won 5. So I spoke with my coach Haitham Effat, and we decided that the best way would be to treat it like any other match,” Momen said after the match.
Momen also complimented Farag, saying: “With Ali, even if you have the best game plan, it still might not be good enough. He’s so fit and he’s really good with his racket, he can control the ball in the middle quite well and he can move you around a lot. I have the utmost respect for him [Farag], he’s a really good friend of mine. We’ve been away for a month and each of us has won a title, so we should be fine going back home.”
“It’s the biggest of my career and I’m really proud of this moment. Putting everything aside, I’m really happy with how I’ve progressed mentally over the past year and a half. I used to give up when I was really tired, now I’m much better at it. I can be exhausted, but I can still push and find other plans.”
