Raneem El Welily Is New Women’s World No.1 by Nathan Clarke September 1, 2015
- Egyptian Raneem El Welily has ended Nicol David’s unprecedented
nine-year run as the uninterrupted World No.1 by topping the September
2015 PSA Women’s World Rankings - becoming the first Egyptian
female star in any sport to be crowned No.1.
The 26-year-old from Alexandria, who had previously occupied the World
No.2 ranking for eight months, has been in sublime form so far in 2015
claiming a hat-trick of major wins at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of
Champions, Guggenheim Partners Windy City Open and Alexandria Open
which have seen her become the first player since 2006 to overtake the
Malaysian atop the rankings.
El Welily becomes just the 13th person ever to hold the No.1 ranking
after bringing David’s 109-month reign as World No.1, which began in
August 2006, to an end and she admits that the reality of being World
No.1 is yet to sink in.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to have become the new World No.1,” said El
Welily, who was named PSA Women’s Player of the Year in 2015.
“Nicol has been number one for so long and the gap between her and all
of us has been so huge that to get close to her is an achievement in
itself. To be the person to finally overtake her is huge for me.
“I know I could just be there for one month and that that's ok because
I still need to do more in order for me to earn that spot - at the
moment it's only a matter of calculation. I know that the challenge now
is proving whether I’m worthy of staying there or not. If I want to do
that then it all rests on how I perform this season.”
El Welily will begin her 2015/16 season at the Stars On The Bund China
Open on September 3rd where she’ll be hoping to progress to a seventh
final in eight events - where a potential showdown with tournament top
seed David could await her.
“Having that ranking makes me even more determined to try my best this
season but it’s important not to put too much pressure on myself,” she
said.
“I’m trying to be hungrier this season than ever before and I’ll need
that hunger if I’m to stay at the top and hopefully I can start the
season well in China.”
Elsewhere inside the top ten England’s Alison Waters (No.4), Egyptians
Omeya Abdel Kawy (No.6) and Nour El Sherbini (No.7) and Hong Kong’s
Annie Au (No.10) all enjoy upwards progression in September while Delia
Arnold is the biggest riser inside the top 20, rising five places to
World No.12.
