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Amr Shabana
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Amr Shabana
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Shabana Is Longest Leader Since Jansher Egypt's world champion Amr Shabana moved into his 25th successive month at the top of the PSA Men's World Squash Rankings - according to the April list published by the Professional Squash Association - thereby claiming the longest unbroken run as world number one since legendary Pakistani Jansher Khan more than ten years ago. The 28-year-old from Cairo first topped the rankings in April 2006, since when he has won nine PSA Tour titles. In December in Bermuda, Shabana won his third World Open crown - and his fourth successive PSA Super Series title in just two months! After record eight times world champion Jansher Khan completed a 53-month world number one run in January 1998, his English successor Peter Nicol established a 24-month unbroken run which ended in December 2003. The unchanged April top ten saw Shabana's compatriot Ramy Ashour at two; Frenchman Gregory Gaultier in third place, and Englishman James Willstrop at No4. Just outside the top ten, Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee leapt five places to No12 - his highest ranking since December 2003. Beng Hee, the 28-year-old from Penang who is based in the UK, ended a two-year Tour title drought last month when he won the CIMB KL Open on home soil. Fellow Malaysian Mohd Azlan Iskandar also registered a notable rise - five positions to No13. The 25-year-old from Kuala Lumpur beat Ong Beng Hee in the final of the Asian Championship in February, then finished as runner-up to his national rival in the KL Open. After markinging his top 20 debut last month, Australia's Cameron Pilley made further progress in the April list by moving to a career-high 18. The UK-based 25-year-old from New South Wales achieved his best ever run in a 5-star event last month - reaching the final of the ISS Canary Wharf Classic in London as the seventh seed. World Top Twenty Men From PSA 1 [1] Amr Shabana EGY 2 [2] Ramy Ashour EGY 3 [3] Gregory Gaultier FRA 4 [4] James Willstrop ENG 5 [5] David Palmer AUS 6 [6] Nick Matthew ENG 7 [7] Thierry Lincou FRA 8 [8] Karim Darwish EGY 9 [9] Wael El Hindi EGY 10 [10] Peter Barker ENG 11 [11] Lee Beachill ENG 12 [17] Ong Beng Hee MAS 13 [18] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS 14 [15] Adrian Grant ENG 15 [12] John White SCO 16 [14] Stewart Boswell AUS 17 [16] Olli Tuominen FIN 18 [20] Cameron Pilley AUS 19 [19] Laurens Jan Anjema NED 20 [13] Mohammed Abbas EGY Full story from www.squashnow.net |