Elias overturns two-game deficit to reach Optasia final

Diego Elias recovered from two games down to beat Karim Gawad in the Optasia Championships semifinals. The third seed won 9–11, 3–11, 12–10, 13–11, 11–5 in seventy-six minutes, reaching another Gold-level final after a difficult opening to the contest.

Gawad controlled the first two games, attacking Elias’ movement and taking the second at his second game-ball opportunity. Elias improved his length and attacking chances in the third, holding on through a tiebreak after Gawad erased his initial 10–8 advantage.

A twenty-one-minute fourth game brought another tiebreak before Elias forced the decider. With momentum behind him, the Peruvian pulled away in the fifth. He credited encouragement from his father and described pride in continuing to fight rather than allowing frustration to decide the match.