By JANE BALL (Squash Mad Reporter)
Egypt’s Mostafa Asal has broken into the top three of the PSA Men’s World Rankings after a sensational month which saw him win both the El Gouna International and CIB PSA World Tour Finals.
The 21-year-old is the youngest man since the legendary Ramy Ashour in April 2008 to feature inside the top three of the men’s rankings and captured the third and fourth major titles of his burgeoning career in June.
First, he toppled world No.1 Ali Farag and world No.2 Paul Coll to win in El Gouna, before he repeated the trick three weeks later to win the final tournament of the season and retain his title at the World Tour Finals.
Farag and Coll retain the top spots on the rankings, while Peru’s Diego Elias moves up to a career-high No.4 spot after winning the Mauritius Open last month. Despite a runner-up finish in Mauritius, Mohamed ElShorbagy falls two spots to No.5, marking his lowest ranking since November 2013.
Tarek Momen stays at No.6, while Joel Makin remains at No.7. Mazen Hesham (8), Marwan ElShorbagy (9) and Fares Dessouky complete the top 10.
Youssef Ibrahim (11), Karim Abdel Gawad (12) and Gregoire Marche (13) retain their places, with Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller rising two spots to a career-high ranking of 14. India’s Saurav Ghosal drops a place to 15 and sits ahead of Miguel Rodriguez, who falls to 16.
Youssef Soliman stays at 17 but there is a rise to a career-high ranking for Frenchman Victor Crouin as he moves up two spots to 18. Raphael Kandra (19) and Baptiste Masotti complete the top 20.
England’s Adam Murrills is the biggest mover on the men’s tour, rising 270 places to No.558 after he reached the last 16 of the Carey Olsen Tortola Classic, which he promoted in the British Virgin Islands, on his first PSA Tour appearance since 2018.
PSA Men’s World Rankings Top 20 – July 2022 .
Pictures courtesy of PSA World Tour