World number one Mostafa Asal will miss the British Open after being hit with a six-week suspension by the sport’s governing body, The PSA.
“Mr Asal had been charged with two separate breaches of the PSA Code of Conduct under Article 4.P relating to ‘Dangerous Play’. These incidents occurred during his quarter-final and semi-final matches at the 2022 CIB Egyptian Open,” The PSA stated.
The ‘Raging Bull’ had lodged an appeal against the charges, which was heard by an independent Appeals panel on Thursday.
However, the original penalties – namely a six-week suspension and £2,000 fine – were upheld.
Six-week ban for Mostafa Asal
Asal, who has polarised opinion on the tour, will not be eligible to compete again on the PSA Tour until 1 May 2023. He has also been withdrawn from the upcoming Optasia Open.
The matches in question relate to Asal’s quarter-final victory against Mazen Hesham and semi-final loss to Ali Farag in September’s CIB Egyptian Open.
Although Squash IQ has no insight into which incidents the PSA deemed dangerous, it’s noteworthy that Asal lost the second game against Hesham on a conduct stroke when he was adjudged to have made an excessive movement back to the ‘t’ (see highlights video here, from about 5.30 mins).
Asal also conceded conduct strokes against Farag in the fourth game of their match. An incident following that game saw Asal’s father, Mahmoud Asal, banned from the PSA World Tour until November.
It is not the first time Asal the younger has suffered a tour suspension either – last January he received a two-month ban for unspecified ‘on-court disciplinary matters”.
