The giveaway for me is that Asal does not look at Marwan after hitting him. He turns to his left and immediately focuses on the referee. Marwan is screaming in pain, but Asal does not even look at him, let alone offer sympathy or concern.

Asal is known for playing a shot and then blocking the opponent as you can see when he's played his shot his body and his right leg then come across marwans path and let's face it, asal is not a small bloke. He is a bully on court and his suspensions are justified.

This is embarrassing

There's always altercations when the top players play Asal but rarely when they play each other. 25 arbitration cases in the Asal vs Elias match. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5jJl5agoaurmc0. This is nothing to do with Asal's 'talent' as a player but rather his win at any cost 'tactics'.

Asal knew exactly what he was doing. He moved his right leg into Marian’s path. When he hit the volley his leg was closer to his body and then he stuck it out to catch or block the opponent . Asal should be banned for a lot longer until he is deemed safe to play against.

Interesting incident but the uploader doesn't really offer any meaningful insights or hypotheses about what happened...one of the commenters below suggested Marwan wanted the match to be called in his favor and then changed his mind about continuing when told this would not happen, so the ref awarded the match to Asal to send a message about sandbagging...no idea if that happened but at least it makes more sense than just saying it was "interesting"...

I'm suprised on how Asal has not been banned based on history of his dirty plays

Let’s cut the shit shall we.. He knew what he was doing. Just look at Asal’s reaction to the incident.

This is not complicated at all. I’ve been hit twice by idiots in the situation, both times where I stayed close to the wall and gave them the entire front wall to hit at. As the person in front, you have no way of knowing what the person in the back is going to do. You should play a let, or, if you’re going to play a shot, play a drop shot that has no chance of hurting your opponent.

1:02

There needs to be some kind of rule implemented to stop this tool from doing what he does. Maybe they should introduce a rule where after playing a shot you're not allowed to lift the backfoot closest to the other player in a way that'd hinder the opposition. Almost every single point Asal make an unnecessary extra half step after hitting the ball with his back foot and is always in the direction to block the opponent. The refs also just need to prevent small amounts of intentional contact with warnings and take away points if it doesn't stop. Allowing Asal to play as he does is genuinely going to ruin the game forever. Kids will watch this and play like him and the game will just become a semi-contact sport. This is 110% all on Asal and it's extremely clear. Idk how anyone can say otherwise. He hits his shot and then intentionally moves his back foot to block Marwan as best as possible. It's not a stability thing, it's not natural. It is to seek out the other player. He pushes off that left leg as hard as possible in an attempt to block in a way no one else would do. Watch any other squash player. When it happens it's the exception. When it's Asal it's almost every point. They have to make changes in the rules to prevent this. As long as they keep letting him get away with it any match he is in will be a farce and it risks the future of the sport.

M8 second video I've seen of you explaining Asal's actions. Other one was with Elshorbagy Jr. And Asal. Not sure why you defend someone or explain his actions. Especially when such incidents take place repeatedly with Asal. He's unprofessional and should be banned. Just cause you have the skill doesn't mean you behave unprofessional and brutal on court. Maybe if you got hit by the ball just like serme did you wouldn't be tryna justify it.

Moustafa Asalt

No let

Marwan made a meal out of this situation! Did he really get touched, let alone hit. The wailing seems so excessive if not outright unbecoming. We are dealing with some shady characters here.

The swing was not excessive. Infact very short. Asal couldn't even complete the swing.

I concur with you. ME walked in to Asal. And screaming was fake!

Shorbagy exaggerated but you can also see Asal’s swing speed increased after ball contact/pre balls contact.

I do not watch Asal

No let and Marwan trying to win by default…..as soon as he knew he wasn’t going to have the match awarded to him, he amazingly wants to continue. Well done ref for calling his bluff. Marwan is super sketchy!!

I don't get it ... Asal clearly moves into Marwan's line around him, look at his back foot movement and also his hips. There was no reason for him to do this except to block Marwan. IMO it was a fairly easy stroke to give when you see it back on replay. It doesn't matter if it was egregious, excessive, malicious, if there was intent to injure, or if the quality of shot was good - as far as I know blocking is not allowed. The injury was an unfortunate result of Asal's blocking, not the cause of the stroke.

Commentrd already a few times here about the rule of "turn". It is clear that you are missing this important rule. Learn about it and most likely you would like to revisit your video. Your take is totally disorientating about this important safety rule of squash.

We’ve all taken one to the nads at some point, as a grown man this is pathetic.

kinda looks like an obvious hip check by Asal, resulting in a contributed injury and what should have been a match awarded to Marwan (if he couldn't continue). However, Marwan apparently said he wanted to continue, so Sheldon should, perhaps, have allowed that. Or, awarded the match to Marwan if he did not think it was safe for the player to continue post-injury. In no way should the match have been awarded to Asal.

At 7:23 look at how Asal’S follow through is outside his body to the right. That is not a normal follow through on a overhead backhand volley hitting to the left. He follows through to the left, as he has to in order to hit left, then he puts his hand out right and hits m. in the junk. It’s dirty. If something like this didn’t happen every week for asal I would think accident. It doesn’t happen if he is winning easy. But if he starts losing then something like this happens.

I agree that Asal was in the wrong and therefore was correctly disqualified for that match. .... However, the real problem is that PSA have created a mindset in the players that they must continue to keep the ball in play, even at the risk of safety standards being put at risk! You see it all time, e.g. where players are corralled into playing into a small part of the front wall, as their opponent is blocking access to the rest. Good players usually can hit their targets, but lesser players might not. The change in the rules is an obvious over reaction to phising tactics some players will employ. Whilst those tactics can be frustrating and border on cheating, they don't cause perforated eardrums or serious eye injuries (which this wasn't far off from as well). As squash players share the same court space, unlike tennis for example, the rules were invented with safety in mind. However, modern interpretations are placing the emphasis on entertainment rather than safety. If this injury could happen here, imagine how many more times it happens with local level grade players, where the skill, fitness and awareness levels are so much lower! ... For the sake of safety, the emphasis of the rules needs to be switched back to protecting the player.

1. Not a fan of Asal, so no bias towards him on this one 2. Seems in normal speed, that Asal was only making a normal follow through with the beginnings of an instinctive move away from the line of the ball towards the T. 3. Marwan was over anticipating and seemed to run into Asal's follow through. 4. I believe the collision was mostly Marwan's fault, therefore, no let. 5. Therefore if Marwan couldn't play on, game to Asal. 6. Can't agree with the ref on all counts. 7. Squash has a big problem. Pro players due to modern refereeing standards are asked to take many more contact risks these days. This is probably an over reaction to phising tactics. Problem is, many lower level competitions think they have to follow suit. With players who aren't as fit, aware and skilled as the pros, this is a recipe for disaster. Squash authorities are running a great risk over the welfare of its players. The original rules were developed with safety as the number 1 premise. We have strayed from that today.

Asal did nothing wrong from what I can see. Pure antics from Marwan

Disappointed that you made this video without knowing the rules, however, you're still trying to explain what happened. Still it raises serious issues. Asal turned and should have asked for a safety let. He's not the first not to. When a player plays on and 'gets away with it ' it can look good but it's often at the risk of hitting the opponent which isn't acceptable.

asal poked out his right leg..he looked immediately up at the ref, he knew he did wrong

he went down in apparent agony...

My take is that Marwan receives the end of the racquet in the crotch. All men know that if it hits really unlucky it does not have to hit very hard to be extremely painful. Still a bit excessive screaming though.... But not surprised that he would be able to play after 30 min. It is not up to the referee to stop further play. Really strange unless a medical doctor calls it About the stroke - Marwan is perhaps a bit closer than appropriate, and Asal must be allowed to finish his movement with reasonable space. But Asal does his usual malicious blocking by talking a step into Marwans path and puts his hip out. If you look closely you see that Asal is already on the T in optimal position, why would he ever want to stop back away from that? The only explanation is malicious intent and blocking. That is dangerous play and should definitely result in conduct stroke and point to Marwan, i see no debate on that. But this is not what the referee explained, and that makes it confusing.

That’s a calculated bow to the gut

That was weird. It looks like a no let, from the standpoint of the shot. There was no way Marwan could get it. In terms of Asal’s leg movement, that was out of line, and merited a conduct warning, or conduct stroke, if a warning had already been given. I didn’t see that Asal did anything wrong with the racquet, but it was hard to tell. The blocking leg movement was clear. Reading between the lines, it looks like gamesmanship on the part of Marwan, and Sheldon was having none of it, but that’s just a guess. It is odd that the match was not continued, unless a medical doctor said so, given it was for medical reasons. If it was for non-medical reasons, then the normal protocol of conduct warning, conduct stroke, etc. should have been followed. Weird all around, including the wailing of Marwan.

What a soft touch

Dangerous play causing injury and you say Asal was disqualified.....so be it !!

Asal uses a power lunge, he lunges in and out using the same leg, vs a retracting lunge when a player lunges with one leg, retrackets the trailing leg to get out of the lunge (e.g. Ashour). Opponents know this about Asal so they intentionally go for the trailing leg to manufacture interference and ask for a stroke. Asal is not doing anything wrong squash wise. His antics is a different story.

First, I didn't watch the match. BUT, could it be possible that Marwan was awarded a stroke on that play and Sheldon qualified it as a conduct stroke based upon the antics and context of the prior two games? I.e. That's enough of that blocking movement Mr. Asal, I have warned you on previous occasions? These two players have been at the eye of the storm in discussions around blocking movement and poor sportsmanship. Odd end to a match indeed....

1. This game involves two people in close space swinging rackets. There is no scope for players to make unnatural moves, blocking and not clearing. Asal makes unnatural moves, blocks and doesn't clear. Asal should be banned. 2. If I were Elshorbagy's brother, the next game in the final I would repeatedly nail Asal in the head until I knew he would never wake up, and chill out in prison watching TV and eating for free for the next few years.

Agree! Asal seems to invite conflict but in this particular case it did not look like he did anything wrong. I also question the severity of the injury. I would expect anyone screaming pain for five minutes to be unable to continue to play for maybe days later. I guess one can learn from footballers.

Which Hollywood movie are we talking about?

What an Asal!

Asal is really talented. He can hit a ball in the follow through as well.

Indeed, this is "turning". The turned player is obliged to ask for a let. His opponent has played a good shot causing the player to have to turn. The reason for the turning rule is exactly for what happened here. It is dangerous to play a ball having been forced to turn. Playing the ball was considered dangerous and so, due to the injury caused, he should forfeit the match.

Asal is a huge talented player but his game antics are mostly for the worse. The biggist problem is that Asal seems to be involved in almost every contreversial situation against any player. That brings me to the question if Asal is to be addressed on his behaviour on the court. His play is to physicall and if this goes on either no one wants to play against Asal or squash will become a kind of box lacrosse

Here's where the confusion comes for me. If marwan told the medics he's fine to continue, why did the ref call an end to the match.

Not a huge fan of Asal's antics. There are many times that we all know where he's able to produce brilliant squash, but too often he's fishing or pre-calling balls down or up or just not playing clean in general. But in this instance, it appears Marwan caused that injury and seemed to flop and Asal did nothing wrong. It's however unfortunate that so many games of Asal have this cloud around them, not sure what his coaches are telling him (probably to keep going as he's number 1!). In other sports like basketball or football or MMA the bad players that win are more celebrated than the clean guys that don't, but classy players do tend to make more money in sponsorships, (and exit ops) so the coaches should take that into account.

People are blaming Asal for his dangerous play but I don't think it's his fault. Asal bends the rules because the refs of PSA allow him to block and trip his opponents because it is good for the game of squash that we have such an exciting character. Good for squash? - I don't thinki so. These controversial decisions will result in squash becoming more like full contact Karate. Thank heavens the PSA don't referee our local matches.

The referee made a serious error. If he believes that the injured player cannot continue and the injury was caused by Asal (stroke against Asal), he should have awarded the match to Marwan according to the rules. However, only a medical practitioner can make such a decision as to whether the player can continue or nor. You have given Asal the benefit of your doubt. I don't agree with you - this is a typical hip check with a leg trip and nailed with the racquet butt for good measure. These days the refs allow blocking even though the rules of squash are clear - after you've played your shot, you need to give way so that your opponent can move to the ball. In other words, step out of the way - not step into your opponent's path.

For a long time now, I have observed Asal's bullying and cheating on the squash court. To me, he _ALWAYS_ seems to plays the man and not the ball. He has zero class, has a low squash IQ and is weak.