Hamstring hobbles crowd favourite from Egypt
By NATHAN CLARKE
Egyptian World No.5 Ramy Ashour has withdrawn from the forthcoming Windy City Open presented by Guggenheim Partners and Equitrust Life Insurance Company as a result of ongoing issues with his troublesome hamstring.
The three-time World Champion has made just five appearances on the PSA World Tour since winning the 2014 World Championship – with injury bringing a premature end to three of those outings – and his injury woes continue to hamper his hopes of making a first competitive appearance since November.
Frenchman Gregoire Marche moves up in the draw to occupy the space vacated by Ashour and will face Hong Kong’s Max Lee in the first round while Mathieu Castagnet rises up the seedings to take the number eight seed and will take on Ali Farag in the first round.
Ashour’s withdrawal follows that of world champion Gregory Gaultier, who was carried from the court after suffering an injury in January’s Tournament of Champions in New York.
Revised Main Draw – 2016 Windy City Open
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Max Lee (HKG)
[Qualifier] v [5] Simon Rösner (GER)
[7] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Tom Richards (ENG) v [Qualifier]
Chris Simpson (ENG) v [4] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
[3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v James Willstrop (ENG)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [Qualifier]
Daryl Selby (ENG) v Cameron Pilley (AUS)
Ali Farag (EGY) v [8] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
[6] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Mazen Hesham (EGY)
Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Borja Golan (ESP) v Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
[WC] Chris Hanson (USA) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
With places at the season-ending PSA Dubai World Series Finals still also to play for the Windy City Open promises to deliver another enthralling instalment of World Series action, all of which will be available to watch live and exclusive on SQUASHTV and Eurosport Player.
Tickets for the 2016 Windy City Open presented by Guggenheim Partners and EquiTrust Life Insurance Company starting at just $20 and can be purchased at http://www.windycityopen.com
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Picture from Squash Mad archive (NAO 2013)