How it unfolded
At this tournament, held May 8 to 16 in Giza, Egyptian players filled all four men's and women's final spots. The women's final matched eight-time world champion Nour El Sherbini against 18-year-old Amina Orfi. El Sherbini took the first game 11-6, but Orfi flipped games two and three 11-6 and 11-9, and after dropping game four 11-7, the match went to a decider. In the final game, El Sherbini held two championship points, but Orfi erased both and closed out the match 14-12. It took 106 minutes. Orfi broke El Sherbini's own record, set when El Sherbini won at age 20 in 2016, to become the youngest-ever women's world champion, and the first player ever to hold a World Junior title and a senior World Championship title at the same time. On the men's side that same day, Mostafa Asal beat Youssef Ibrahim to defend his title.
Why it still matters
El Sherbini's bid for a ninth world title, which would have tied her with Nicol David's eight, fell two points short, and an 18-year-old from the same country took her place instead. This match was the clearest demonstration yet that Egypt's academy system reproduces generations without a gap, and it also settled, on this one night, who the leading candidate is for the first women's singles gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.