England-Egypt to battle it out in Punj Lloyd squash
December 11th, 2011 - 9:15 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) The third edition of the Punj Lloyd PSA Squash Masters beginning here Monday is set to host six top-10 players despite the last minute pullout of World Number One and defending champion Nick Matthew. Saurav Ghoshal will spearhead India’s challenge in the $165,000 event.
The battle for top honours will once again be amongst players from Egypt and England.
World No.2 James Willstrop will lead the English pack in the absence of Matthew and going by current form a few would like to bet against him for the title.
Willstrop, runners-up to Matthew in 2010, comes here after wining back-to-back PSA World Series titles in Hong Kong and and Kuwait. World No.7 Peter Barker and No.16 are the other top Englishmen in the draw.
Four-time World Champion and last year’s semifinalist Amr Shabana has given the tournament a miss but Egypt will have enough representation to stake claim for the title.
2008 World Champion winner Ramy Ashour, who couldn’t play last year due to injury, has been given the top seeding though his current ranking stands at five. Karim Darwish, ranked five, is the second seed with Mohammed El Shorbagy, the other top Egyptian in the fray, at No. 8.
“It is my second time here besides playing smaller tournaments in Mumbai and Kolkata. The competition is verh high and the prize money is pretty big as well. More importantly, I also get to improve my ranking by doing well in a big event like this,” Shorbagy told IANS.
World No. 3 Gregory Gautier is the lone French player in the top-10.
Twenty-sixth ranked Ghoshal lost in the pre-quarters in the previous edition and will have to produce something special to better his performance. He meets America’s Julian Illingworth in his opening round match Tuesday.
Wild card Siddharth Suchde is the other Indian in the main draw and faces Gautier in the first round Monday.
- Punj Lloyd Squash: Egyptians Darwish, Shorbagy in quarters - Dec 14, 2011
- Punj Lloyd Squash: Shorbagy stuns Darwish to enter semis, Ashour crashes out (Lead) - Dec 17, 2011
- Punj Lloyd Squash: Shorbagy stuns his idol Darwish to enter semis - Dec 16, 2011
- Willstrop-Gaultier set up a cracking final in Punj Lloyd Squash - Dec 17, 2011
- Top squash stars to skip Punj Lloyd Masters - Dec 13, 2010
- Suchde crashes out of Punj Lloyd Squash, Ghosal plays Tuesday - Dec 12, 2011
- Masters squash deserved better promotion, say players - Dec 15, 2011
- Matthew-Willstrop set up all England final in Punj Lloyd squash - Dec 18, 2010
- Siddharth, Sandeep crash out of Punj Lloyd masters - Dec 14, 2010
- Ghosal goes down fighting in Punj Lloyd Squash - Dec 15, 2011
- India's Mahesh, Anaka second in world junior squash - Jan 11, 2012
- Ghosal enters pre-quarters of Punj Lloyd Squash - Dec 13, 2011
- India go down fighting to England in World Cup squash - Mar 08, 2011
- Indian players need to give squash top priority: Coach - Dec 17, 2010
- Egypt, England eye title at U-21 Squash World Cup - Jan 31, 2012
Tags: amr, amr shabana, ashour, darwish, defending champion, england world, englishmen, french player, gautier, illingworth, karim, peter barker, prize money, pullout, punj lloyd, saurav, stake claim, time world champion, wild card, world series titles