Injured Ramy misses Swedish Open as well as ToC

Another setback for world champion robs fans of seeing the game’s most popular player 

Ramy Ashour, the current PSA world champion, will miss another major tournament. Just 24 hours after the news that he will be absent from the Tournament of Champions in New York, the PSA announced that he will also miss the CASE Swedish Open, the International 70 tournament set to take place in Linköping from February 3 – February 8. His absence is as a result of the same knee-meniscus injury that has ruled him out of this month’s J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions at Grand Central Terminal.

Ashour’s withdrawal sees England’s James Willstrop, himself aiming for a return to competitive action following an injury-enforced absence since September 2014, move up in the draw to occupy the fourth seeding position.

Egypt’s Fares Dessouki, the top seeded player in qualification, comes into the main draw automatically to face World No.2 Gregory Gaultier.

Having been held for the first time in the 1970s, the Swedish Open has grown to become one of the biggest International-level tournaments on the PSA World Tour calendar and will enter its 12th year under the stewardship of ActiPro events.

The revised main draw is as follows:

[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Fares Dessouki (EGY)
[Qualifier] v [7] Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
[5] Simon Rösner (GER) v [WC] Rasmus Hult (SWE)
Chris Simpson (ENG) v [4] James Willstrop (ENG)
[3] Peter Barker (ENG) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
[Qualifier] v [6] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY)
[8] Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)

The 2015 CASE Swedish Open will take place at Linköping Sporthall, Linköping from February 3 – February 8 and tickets can be purchased by visiting www.swedishopensquash.se