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Karim Darwish Reclaims World Number One
Ranking
After losing his world
number one ranking last month to Gregory Gaultier for the first time this
year, Egypt's Karim Darwish has reclaimed the title from the Frenchman in
the new December Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, published by the
Professional Squash Association.
The 28-year-old from Cairo
first topped the world rankings in January - and held onto the position until
Gaultier took over in November. But victory in the PSA Super Series Sky Open
in his home city in September, and the 27th Tour final appearance of his career
at the Qatar Classic last month, boosted Darwish's ranking points tally
to see him overtake his French rival.
Heading the final PSA
ranking list of the year rounds off a magnificent 2009 for Darwish who was also
voted the 'PSA Player of the Year' at the World Squash Awards
in London last weekend.
Amr Shabana
might have expected to see out the year as world number one after becoming world
champion for the fourth time last month after winning the Kuwait World Open
title in style at the Green Island Resort. But the left-hander, whose
33-month reign as world number one was ended by compatriot Darwish in January,
sustained a shoulder injury in Kuwait and was forced to withdraw from the Qatar
Classic.
Shabana slips to three,
just ahead of England's Nick Matthew, winner of the Qatar Classic,
who holds onto fourth place.
Two players make six-place
leaps in the top 20 – Egyptian Wael El Hindi to No10 and Englishman
Daryl Selby to a career-high No11. After an indifferent first half of the
year, El Hindi made it through to the quarter-finals of both the Sky Open and
World Open against the seedings – and is now just two places away from his
highest-ever ranking.
Selby, who began the year
outside the top 30, has enjoyed an impressive recent run – reaching the
quarter-finals of both the British Open and Hong Kong Open
unseeded, and last week lifted the Dutch Open crown in Rotterdam as the
fourth seed. The 27-year-old from Essex now becomes the fourth highest-ranked
Englishman for the first time.
Egyptian teenager
Mohamed El Shorbagy re-stakes his claim as the youngest player in the top 20
by re-entering the elite group at 20. The talent of the 18-year-old from
Alexandria was recognised in London this weekend when El Shorbagy won the
PSA Young Player of the Year award.
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Rank |
Prev |
Player |
Pts |
Ctry |
| 1é |
[3] |
Karim
Darwish |
940 |
Egy |
|
2ê |
[1] |
Gregory
Gaultier |
919 |
Fra |
| 3ê |
[2] |
Amr
Shabana |
916 |
Egy |
|
4 |
[4] |
Nick
Matthew |
891 |
Eng |
|
5 |
[5] |
Ramy Ashour |
800 |
Egy |
|
6 |
[6] |
James
Willstrop |
573 |
Eng |
| 7é |
[9] |
Peter Barker |
526+ |
Eng |
| 8ê |
[7] |
David Palmer
|
491 |
Aus |
| 9ê |
[8] |
Thierry Lincou |
443 |
Fra |
| 10é |
[16] |
Wael El Hindi |
332 |
Egy |
|
11é |
[16] |
Daryl Selby |
327 |
Eng |
|
12ê |
[11] |
Adrian Grant |
320 |
Eng |
| 13ê |
[12] |
Alister Walker |
317 |
Eng |
| 14é |
[17] |
Laurens Jan Anjema |
288 |
Ned |
|
15 |
[15] |
Cameron Pilley |
287 |
Aus |
|
16ê |
[13] |
Azlan Iskandar |
277 |
Mas |
| 17ê |
[10] |
Borja Golan |
250 |
Esp |
|
18é |
[20] |
Stewart Boswell |
247 |
Aus |
|
19 |
[19] |
Ong Beng Hee |
224 |
Mas |
|
20 |
[21] |
Mohamed El Shorbagy |
238 |
Egy |
|
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