Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Marwan ElShorbagy gets a Black Ball bounce back in to the world top five

By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

Egypt’s Marwan ElShorbagy has broken back into the top five for the first time since December 2018 after the PSA men’s world rankings for April were released today (April 1).

ElShorbagy, 27, captured the third major title of his career when he overcame defending champion Fares Dessouky in the final of the CIB PSA Black Ball Squash Open last month in Cairo.

ElShorbagy features in the top five along with world No.1 Ali Farag, his older brother Mohamed (No.2), world champion Tarek Momen (No.3) and New Zealand’s Paul Coll (New Zealand), who he defeated in the quarter-finals at the Black Ball Sporting Club.

Meanwhile, former world No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad drops out of the top five as his issues with a heel problem continued in Cairo, while Dessouky moves up to a career-high ranking of No.7, with Peru’s Diego Elias dropping a spot to No.8.

Welshman Joel Makin, a semi-finalist in Cairo, remains Britain’s highest-ranked male player in the world. He stays at No.9, while Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez completes the top 10.

Mohamed Abouelghar (11), Mostafa Asal (12), Saurav Ghosal (13), Mazen Hesham (14) and Gregoire Marche (15) retain their rankings, while Zahed Salem moves up two places after reaching a first PSA World Tour Platinum quarter-final at the Black Ball Open.

Omar Mosaad and James Willstrop both fall a place to No.17 and No.18, respectively, while Adrian Waller and Cesar Salazar round off the top 20.

The biggest mover on the men’s tour this month is 17-year-old Egyptian Ahmed Wael. He rises 462 places to No.275 after featuring as a wildcard at the Black Ball Open, while his fellow wildcard at that event, Ahmed Ismail, moves up 408 places to No.267.

PSA Men’s World Rankings Top 20 – April 2021.

Picture and graphic courtesy of PSA

 

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