Borja Golan has fought through a serious knee injury, sustained in 2009, to emerge as Spain’s greatest ever squash player.
The injury was sustained in the Columbian Open final, which he went on to lose to David Palmer. Despite this, the Spaniard climbed into the top 10 the month after the tournament had come to a close.
He would have to wait until 2013 before he could rank as highly again when he reached the semi-final of the Qatar Classic that year. In December 2013 he finished runner up to Nick Matthew in the Hong Kong Open which was the Spaniard’s first PSA World Series final.
Golan couldn’t manage a PSA World Tour title in 2014 but made it to several semi-finals, with his performance at the Hong Kong Open in August a particular highlight.
He started 2015 slowly with his quarter-final finish at the Tournament of Champions being followed up with two more identical finishes at the Motor City Open and Canary Wharf Classic.
He ended a two year wait for a 30th PSA World Tour title by lifting the CCI International in September of that year.
Golan spent a fourth straight calendar year in the world’s top 20 in 2016 and also triumphed at the Sporta Internacional tournament in May of that year.
The Spaniard went on to feature in the semi-finals of the China Squash Open, where he lost out to Mohamed ElShorbagy and the semi-finals of the Windy City Open, where he fell short against former World No.1 Gregory Gaultier.