Egyptian teen squash
sensation Ramy Ashour will be making his first appearance in the UK
since bursting into the world's top five this year when he makes his debut
in the ATCO Super
Series Finals – Manchester 2007
this week at the National Squash Centre in Sportcity.
The annual showcase event,
which brings together the top eight qualifiers from the previous year's
Professional Squash Association Super Series tournaments around the
globe, will be staged in the English city of
Manchester
for the first time, from 9-12 August.
Egypt's two-times World
Open champion Amr Shabana heads the star-studded cast. The
28-year-old left-hander from Cairo has dominated the sport since beginning
his 17-month reign as world number one in April last year.
Shabana, who is making his
fourth appearance in the event, will be joined in the
ATCO Group
by Frenchman Gregory
Gaultier, the third seed and four-times European champion who is making
his debut in the event; and Englishmen
James Willstrop
and British Open
champion Nick Matthew, the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively, from
Yorkshire.
Ramy Ashour joins fellow
Egyptian Karim Darwish in the Manchester Group - both players
making their debuts in the event. 19-year-old Ashour followed a
distinguished junior career - which saw him become the first man to win the
World Junior title twice - by racing up the senior rankings to reach world
number two in June!
To qualify for this year's
Finals, Ashour claimed two semi-final berths in 2006 Super Series events as
well as reaching the final of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open in
his maiden appearance in the event. This year, the remarkable youngster has
already claimed three Super Series crowns!
But the two Egyptians will
face stiff opposition in the Manchester Group from experienced Super Series
Finals campaigners David Palmer, the reigning World Open
champion from Australia, and Frenchman
Thierry Lincou,
a two-times winner of the title who is making his sixth successive
appearance in the championship.
The four-day championships
on the all-glass showcourt in Sportcity will feature three qualifying rounds
in each of the pools, leading to finals (on Sunday) which will produce a 1-8
finish.
1st pool round:
ATCO Group
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v
[5] James Willstrop (ENG)
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [6]
Nick Matthew (ENG)
Manchester Group
[7] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [8]
Karim Darwish (EGY)
[2] David Palmer (AUS) v [4]
Thierry Lincou (FRA)
