Hong Kong Open Draw Made As 'Road To Dubai' Begins by Nathan Clarke
photo PSA
July 14, 2016
- The draw for the opening tournament of the 2016/17 PSA World Series
season - the Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open - was
released today (July 13) and will see the world's top players descend
on the 'Pearl of the Orient' during the last week of August with the
hopes of securing the first major title of the new campaign.
One of the longest running major tournaments on the PSA World Tour,
having celebrated its 30th anniversary last season, the Hong Kong Open
will welcome 112 players from around the world to the Hong Kong Squash
Centre on August 23rd when they will be aiming to take the first steps
towards a top eight finish on the 2016/17 PSA Road To Dubai Standings
and a place at the lucrative season-ending PSA Dubai World Series
Finals.
Only the top eight players on the Men's and Women's 'Road To Dubai
Standings' will qualify for the end of season Finals, which offers one
of the biggest purses in professional squash, and with a strong start
vital to hopes of securing one of those coveted berths the action in
Hong Kong is set to be fierce from day one.
Having gone undefeated in Hong Kong for over ten years reigning
champion Nicol David will be out to extend her winning streak in what
looks set to be a highly competitive Women's field. David will occupy
the number four seeding behind top seeded World No.1 Nour El Sherbini,
World No.2 Laura Massaro and Raneem El Welily - the player who ended
David's nine-year reign as World No.1 last September.
In the Men's draw World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy will be aiming to
extend his recent domination of the World Series as he returns to the
tournament that first saw him scale to the top of the World Rankings in
2014. The 24-year-old Egyptian won six back-to-back titles last year
but will face stiff competition in a field that includes World Champion
Gregory Gaultier and the returning Ramy Ashour - the Egyptian maverick
who dominated the Tour prior to 2013.
2016 Hong Kong Open - Men's First Round Draw
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v Chris Simpson (ENG)
Leo Au (HKG) v Cameron Pilley (AUS)
Mazen Hesham (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Borja Golan (ESP) v [7] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
[5] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Tom Richards (ENG) v James Willstrop (ENG)
Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) v [Qualifier]
[WC] Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) v [4] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
[3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Saurav Ghosal (IND)
Tarek Momen (EGY) v Simon Rösner (GER)
[Qualifier] v [6] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
[8] Ali Farag (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Max Lee (HKG) v [Qualifier]
Fares Dessouky (EGY) v Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
[Qualifier] v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
2016 Hong Kong Open - Women's First Round Draw
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v Heba El Torky (EGY)
[Qualifier] v [11] Annie Au (HKG)
[10] Joshna Chinappa (IND) v [Qualifier]
Line Hansen (DEN) v [8] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY)
[7] Amanda Sobhy (USA) v Joey Chan (HKG)
Victoria Lust (ENG) v [12] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
[16] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v Donna Urquhart (AUS)
Rachael Grinham (AUS) v [3] Raneem El Welily (EGY)
[4] Nicol David (MAS) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [9] Joelle King (NZL)
[14] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v [WC] Ho Tze-Lok (HKG)
Dipika Pallikal (IND) v [6] Camille Serme (FRA)
[5] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [13] Alison Waters (ENG)
[15] Emily Whitlock (ENG) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [2] Laura Massaro (ENG)
The 2016 Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open gets
underway with qualification at the Hong Kong Football Club on Saturday
August 21st. Main draw action begins on Monday August 23 at the Hong
Kong Squash Centre before the action moves to the Hong Kong Parks
Sports Centre for the quarter-finals onwards.
Only the top eight players on the ‘PSA Road To Dubai Standings’ at the
end of the season will qualify for the PSA Dubai World Series Finals,
which will take place in Dubai from June 5-9. Players accumulate
ranking points at each World Series tournament during the season, which
includes the likes of the Delaware Investments U.S. Open, J.P. Morgan
Tournament of Champions and Allam British Open.
