Darwish & El Hindi In Cairo Final After Abbreviated Semis

The crowd watching the climax of the Petrosport International Championship in Cairo will be treated to an all-Egyptian final - but the crowd witnessing the semi-finals of the $140,000 PSA Super Series Platinum squash event at the city's Sky Club were given two truncated matches after both ended prematurely following retirements.

But Wael El Hindi, the fifth seed from Cairo, and Karim Darwish, the No4 seed who is also from the host city, will both be celebrating their maiden appearances in a Super Series event final after their semi-final successes.

El Hindi, the world No12, ended world number one Amr Shabana's chance of winning the 14th Super Series title of his career when the top seed stopped the match within a point of the end of the second game.

"I was already injured before the tournament - I had an injury in my wrist - but yesterday when I was playing Peter (Barker), I got a blister on my big toe, so that's why I didn't complete the match," Shabana explained to www.squashsite.co.uk afterwards.

El Hindi, now in the 11th Tour final of his career, was full of sympathy for his friend after the 11-9, 10-3 (ret.) win: "I saw that he just couldn't move when I played a disguised shot, and I knew then he was in trouble. I know he is already injured with his wrist, but that was different.

"Shabana is a friend of mine; I hope that this is not serious, and that he recovers very soon. He is such a player, and I do respect him, and so should the crowd, because what he's achieved, nobody else could have achieved but him. We should be all so proud of him."

World No8 Darwish swept to victory in just 14 minutes, beating Malaysia's eighth seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar 11-3, 11-2 (ret.).

"I injured my groin a week before Malaysia," said a disconsolate Iskandar later. "I had a lot of physio treatment and ultrasound, and that made it better for a while. I've been on anti-inflammatories for two weeks now!

"Tonight, I thought that I was going to be fine, and the idea was to get on court, and test it, see how it was going, and see if I could play or not. But when I heard that Shabana had retired, I knew I HAD to give something to the crowd, and decided to play.

"But I just couldn't do anything, I just couldn't move."

Darwish, celebrating his 20th Tour final and 5/4 ahead on head-to-head clashes with his compatriot since 2000, has his eyes focussed on the match: "I'm looking forward to playing him in the final; this is a tournament I really want to win."

Semi-finals:
[5] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt [1] Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-9, 10-3 ret. (30m)
[4] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [8] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 11-3, 11-2 ret. (14m)