Ramy Ashour Scheduled to Return for November World Championship, Draw Announced by Nathan Clarke October 20, 2014
- The draw for the 2014 Qatar PSA World Squash Championship has been
made and will see current champion Nick Matthew, the Englishman from
Sheffield, begin the defence of his title against a qualifier when the
2014 competition gets underway at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex
in Doha on November 14.
34-year-old Matthew
faces a tricky route to the final if he is to defend his title, with
potential encounters against four-time World Champion Amr Shabana, who
knocked him out of the US Open at the semi-final stage, and Mohamed
Elshorbagy, the 23-year-old Egyptian who will top the PSA World
Rankings for the first time in his career on November 1st, standing in
his way.
Bristol-based
Elshorbagy, originally from Alexandria, Egypt, will go into the
tournament as one of the favourites, having recently claimed his fourth
consecutive PSA World Tour title at the 2014 Delaware Investments US
Open to extend his current unbeaten streak to 18-matches.
Elshorbagy and Matthew
are seeded to meet in the semi-finals when a place in the final will be
up for grabs, with either four-time runner-up Gregory Gaultier or
two-time champion Ramy Ashour seeded to await them in the decider, and
Elshorbagy is determined to keep up his rich vein of form.
"The World Championship is coming up in three weeks and I'm really looking forward to it," said Elshorbagy.
"Hopefully I can make it very tough for all the other players every time I go on court and keep my momentum going to win it.
"I'm feeling very
confident at the moment but I'm not fooled by that and know I still
need to keep focused and work even harder to keep my game at the top.
"Many people think
that when you get to World No.1 you have reached the end of the ladder
but for me this is just the beginning - I don't just want to get to
this level, I want to extend it and I'm going to be working even harder
ahead of the World Championship."
2014 Qatar PSA World Squash Championship: 1st Round Draw: [1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [Qualifier] Mazen Hesham (EGY) v Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) [WC] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) v [10] Omar Mosaad (EGY) [15] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) v [Qualifier] Alister Walker (BOT) v [Qualifier] Cameron Pilley (AUS) v Joe Lee (ENG) Chris Simpson (ENG) v [7] Peter Barker (ENG) [6] Borja Golan (ESP) v Leo Au (HKG) Henrik Mustonen (FIN) v [Qualifier] Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [Qualifier] Olli Tuominen (FIN) v [14] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) [13] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v Shaun Le Roux (RSA) Zahed Mohamed (EGY) v [Qualifier] Adrian Grant (ENG) v [Qualifier] [Qualifier] v [4] Ramy Ashour (EGY) [3] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [Qualifier] Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Alan Clyne (SCO) Nasir Iqbal (PAK) v [Qualifier] Steven Finitsis (AUS) v [16] Saurav Ghosal (IND) [9] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW) Max Lee (HKG) v [Qualifier] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) Adrian Waller (ENG) v[5] Amr Shabana (EGY) [8] Daryl Selby (ENG) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA) Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v [Qualifier] Eddie Charlton (ENG) v Tom Richards (ENG) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [11] Tarek Momen (EGY) [12] Simon Rösner (GER) v [Qualifier] Campbell Grayson (NZL) v [Qualifier] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v [Qualifier] [Qualifier] v [2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY)
The 2014 Qatar PSA
World Squash Championship takes place at the Khalifa International
Tennis and Squash Complex, Doha from Friday November 14 - Friday
November 21.
