Rodriguez moves up to fourth seed as injury forces Egyptian legend to give Hull a miss
By NATHAN CLARKE
Four-time World Champion Amr Shabana’s hopes of winning the prestigious Allam British Open for the first time in his career have been dashed due to injury.
The 35-year-old Egyptian maestro has been forced to withdraw from the 2015 edition of squash’s oldest tournament after failing to overcome a back injury first suffered during last month’s El Gouna International.
Shabana’s withdrawal means that his prodigiously talented compatriot Mazen Hesham moves into the main draw from qualification while Colombian live wire Miguel Angel Rodriguez, the highest ranked South American player of all time, moves up to occupy the number four seeding to face England’s Chris Simpson in the first round.
2015 Allam British Open – Revised First Round Draw:
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v James Willstrop (ENG)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) v Borja Golan (ESP)
Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [7] Simon Rösner (GER)
[6] Peter Barker (ENG) v Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) v Alister Walker (BOT)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [3] Nick Matthew (ENG)
[4] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v Chris Simpson (ENG)
Cameron Pilley (AUS) v Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Stephen Coppinger (RSA) v [Qualifier]
[WC] Adrian Waller (ENG) v [5] Tarek Momen (EGY)
[8] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v Max Lee (HKG)
Mazen Hesham (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Daryl Selby (ENG) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
The 2015 Allam British Open gets underway at the Airco Arena, Hull from Monday May 11 – Sunday May 17 with tickets available to purchase via Ticketmaster: http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/British-Open-Squash-Championships-tickets/artist/1686792?SREF=TWArtist
Picture by MARIAN KRAUS