02-Apr-08:
Amr Shabana Celebrates Breakthrough
25th Month As World Number One
 Egypt's
world champion Amr Shabana moves into his 25th
successive month at the top of the Dunlop
PSA Men's World Squash Rankings
- according to the April list published by the Professional
Squash Association - thereby claiming the longest unbroken
run as world number one since legendary Pakistani Jansher
Khan more than ten years ago.
The 28-year-old
from Cairo first topped the rankings in April 2006, since when
he has won nine
PSA Tour
titles. In December in Bermuda, Shabana won his third World
Open crown - and his fourth successive
PSA Super Series
title in just two months!
After record eight
times world champion Jansher Khan completed a 53-month world
number one run in January 1998, his English successor
Peter Nicol
established a 24-month unbroken run which ended in December
2003.
The unchanged April
top ten sees Shabana's compatriot Ramy Ashour at two;
Frenchman Gregory Gaultier in third place, and Englishman
James Willstrop
at No4.
Just
outside the top ten, Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee leaps five
places to No12 - his highest ranking since December 2003. Beng
Hee, the 28-year-old from Penang who is based in the UK,
celebrated a two-year Tour title drought last month when he won
the CIMB KL Open on home soil.
Fellow Malaysian Mohd Azlan Iskandar also celebrates a
notable rise - five positions to No13. The 25-year-old from
Kuala Lumpur beat Ong Beng Hee in the final of the Asian
Championship in February, then finished as runner-up to his
national rival in the KL Open.
After celebrating
his top 20 debut last month, Australia's Cameron Pilley
makes further progress in the April list by moving to a
career-high 18. The UK-based 25-year-old from New South Wales
achieved his best ever run in a 5-star event last month -
reaching the final of the ISS Canary Wharf Classic in
London as the seventh seed.
1 [1] Amr Shabana EGY
2 [2] Ramy Ashour EGY
3 [3] Gregory Gaultier FRA
4 [4] James Willstrop ENG
5 [5] David Palmer AUS
6 [6] Nick Matthew ENG
7 [7] Thierry Lincou FRA
8 [8]
Karim Darwish EGY
9 [9] Wael El Hindi EGY
10 [10] Peter Barker ENG
11 [11] Lee Beachill ENG
12 [17] Ong Beng Hee MAS
13 [18] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS
14 [15] Adrian Grant ENG
15 [12] John White SCO
16 [14] Stewart Boswell AUS
17 [16] Olli Tuominen FIN
18
[20] Cameron Pilley AUS
19 [19] Laurens Jan Anjema NED
20 [13] Mohammed Abbas EGY
Nicol David Extends World Ranking Lead
 Malaysia's
Nicol David has maintained her lead at the top of the April
Women's World Squash Rankings, published by the Women's
International
Squash Players' Association (WISPA).
Victory in last
month's CIMB KL Open on home soil - where David notched up
her 40th Tour final appearance - takes the 24-year-old from Penang
into her 21st successive month at the top of the WISPA list.
Natalie Grinham,
who celebrated her maiden Tour appearance as a Dutch player in the
KL Open, holds onto second place for the 15th month in a row after
finishing as runner-up in Kuala Lumpur.
Natalie's sister Rachael Grinham, from
Australia, remains at three, while American Natalie Grainger
is at No4, and England's Tania Bailey
at No5.
Jenny Duncalf,
runner-up in last December's Carol Weymuller Open in New
York, is the highest riser - moving two places to a career-high
equalling No6 to become the second-placed English player in the
list.
Hong Kong's
Rebecca Chiu, who beat Duncalf in the KL Open, also rises to a
former career-best No13.
But two players celebrate best-ever positions in
the April rankings: New Zealand's Jaclyn Hawkes consolidates
her position in the top 20 by moving up a single place to No17 -
boosted by title success in last month's
NSC Tour 12 No1 in
Malaysia.
After becoming the first Mexican to make the
world top 20 in February, Samantha Teran now moves up to 19
after clinching her second WISPA World
Tour title of the year last month at
the Windy City Open in Chicago.
Sharon Wee returns
to the top 20 for the first time this year - doubling the Malaysian
content of the elite group by returning to No20.
1
[1] Nicol David
MAS
2 [2] Natalie
Grinham NED
3 [3] Rachael
Grinham AUS
4
[4] Natalie Grainger USA
5
[5] Tania Bailey
ENG
6
[8] Jenny Duncalf
ENG
7 [7] Shelley
Kitchen NZL
8
[6] Vicky Botwright ENG
9
[9] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY
10 [10] Vanessa
Atkinson NED
11 [11] Alison Waters
ENG
12 [12] Laura
Lengthorn-Massaro ENG
13 [14] Rebecca Chiu
HKG
14 [13] Madeline
Perry IRL
15 [15] Kasey Brown
AUS
16
[16] Engy Kheirallah EGY
17 [18] Jaclyn
Hawkes NZL
18 [17] Annelize
Naude NED
19 [20] Samantha
Teran MEX
20
[22] Sharon Wee
MAS
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