Madeline Makes World Ranking History
While Malaysian Nicol David surges
on to a 94th successive month as world number one in the May Women's
World Squash Rankings, it is Ireland's Madeline Perry who
steals the headlines in the latest list published by the Women's
Squash Association (WSA) by becoming the oldest player in history to
retain a place in the women's world top ten.
Perry, who in December won a record 14th
Irish National Championship title, joined the WSA World Tour
in July 1998. After securing a career-high world No3 ranking in April
2011, and reaching 27 WSA World Tour finals and winning 11, Perry
celebrated her 37th birthday in February.
Born in Banbridge, near Belfast, Perry
first appeared in the world top ten in February 2006 - and this month
slips one place to No9.
"I think what I am proud of is that I'm
still competing at such a high level and competing with the best in the
world," said Perry (pictured above in action against Raneem El
Welily in January's Tournament of Champions) on hearing the news
of her unique achievement. "I think I'm playing so well at an older age
firstly because I trained very little as a kid, went to university, and
only after that trained seriously as a professional!
"I also have been very particular about
planning my training as a professional, not overtraining and using
physiotherapy regularly to keep my body in good shape," added the WSA
star who has been selected to make a remarkable fifth successive
appearance for Northern Ireland in the quadrennial Commonwealth Games in
August in Scotland.
England's world champion Laura Massaro
holds onto second place in the May rankings, ahead of Egypt's
third-placed Raneem El Welily and New Zealander Joelle King
at No4.
France's Camille Serme returns to
a career-equalling-high No5, with England's Alison Waters at No6.
The impressive recent run by Nour El
Sherbini has seen the Egyptian teenager follow her 14-place rise in
the April rankings by jumping a further six positions to No7 in the
latest list.
Unseeded in the Penang World
Championship in March, El Sherbini became the youngest finalist in
the 35-year history of the event after upsetting Nicol David in a
stunning semi-final shock - then last month came through the Champion
Fiberglass Texas Open as a qualifier to win the WSA Gold 50
title against expectations.
Lower in the list, England's Emma
Beddoes makes her top 20 debut by celebrating a career-best No20
ranking after a rise of three places. The 28-year-old from Leeds made
the Texas Open quarter-finals as a qualifier, then also reached last
month's Mayfair Open final in Canada.
After winning her second WSA Tour event
as a 16-year-old at last month's Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open,
Egypt's Nouran Ahmed Gohar jumps four places to a career-best
world No29 ranking.
Also celebrating a best-ever ranking is
Samantha Cornett, the 23-year-old Canadian who notched up her
10th WSA Tour final appearance at last month's Emerson WSA Racquet
Club Pro Series in St Louis, USA - and rises three places to No28.
May
top 20
(inc. points average):
|
|
|
Rank |
+/- |
Player |
Pts |
Ctry |
|
1 |
- |
Nicol David |
3,346 |
MAS |
|
2 |
[2] |
Laura Massaro |
2,555 |
ENG |
|
3 |
[3] |
Raneem El Welily |
1,754 |
EGY |
|
4 |
[4] |
Joelle King |
1,176 |
NZL |
|
5 |
[6] |
Camille Serme |
1,082 |
FRA |
|
6 |
[5] |
Alison Waters |
1,036 |
ENG |
|
7 |
[13] |
Nour El Sherbini |
934 |
EGY |
|
8 |
[7] |
Low Wee Wern |
916 |
MAS |
|
9 |
[8] |
Madeline Perry |
804 |
IRL |
|
10 |
[12] |
Dipika Pallikal |
775 |
IND |
|
11 |
[9] |
Annie Au |
760 |
HKG |
|
12 |
[10] |
Jenny Duncalf |
722 |
ENG |
|
13 |
[11] |
Omneya Abdel Kawy |
637 |
EGY |
|
14 |
[14] |
Kasey Brown |
577 |
AUS |
|
15 |
[16] |
Rachael Grinham |
574 |
AUS |
|
16 |
[15] |
Amanda Sobhy |
532 |
USA |
|
17 |
[18] |
Sarah-Jane Perry |
516 |
ENG |
|
18 |
[17] |
Natalie Grinham |
482 |
NED |
|
19 |
[19] |
Nicolette
Fernandes |
425 |
GUY |
|
20 |
[23] |
Emma Beddoes |
423 |
ENG |
|
|
|
