September PSA Rankings Released, Rodriguez Becomes Highest-Ranked South American by Howard Harding 1 September 2013
- Whilst Ramy Ashour holds his lead at the top of the September Dunlop
PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, it is Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez
who is the focus of attention in the new list published today by the
Professional Squash Association after becoming the highest-ranked South
American of all-time.
"I am very happy to
reach the top 16 and became the best Latin American and South American
player in history to achieve this position," said Rodriguez on hearing
the news of his three-place leap to No16 - a career-best world ranking
which finally sees the Colombian move ahead of the 17th place achieved
by Argentina's Federico Usandizaga two decades ago.
"It all comes together
when you do the right things - I knew this was going to happen and I
was waiting for the moment," continued the 27-year-old from Bogota who
reached the semi-finals of the Colombian Open last month unseeded. "But
there is still more work to do to climb the path to the top 10, the top
five and then number one."
Rodriguez notched up
his 30th final appearance on the PSA World Tour in May at the Torneo
Internacional PSA Sporta in Guatemala - where he won his 22nd title and
paid tribute to his coach David Palmer, the US-based former world
champion from Australia.
"It's not easy for me
because I don't always have David to coach me and players to play with
- but I am very grateful to him due to the fact that I am not full time
in Orlando. However, we keep in touch and he reminds me important
things to do on and off court.
"I also want to
thanked Sardar Ali Khan - I used to train with him and learnt a lot
from him; My dad who involved me in this sport 23 years ago has been
the principal key for my entire career; my mom is always besides me, no
matter what. And also thanks to Tecnifibre, Salming, Coldeportes, IDRD
and my physical trainer Ryan McKenzie in Orlando."
PSA CEO Alex Gough
added: "It is fantastic to have a player from South America reaching
this high in the world rankings. Rodriguez is a great talent and crowds
really enjoy watching him play at major events. It shows the growing
diversity of the sport and I am sure he will be aiming at breaking into
the top ten if he can."
In an unchanged top
10, Frenchman Gregory Gaultier holds onto second place, followed by
Englishmen James Willstrop and Nick Matthew at No3 and No4,
respectively.
Egyptians occupy four
further places behind Ashour in the world top ten: Karim Darwish at 5;
Mohamed Elshorbagy in sixth place; Amr Shabana at No8; and Tarek Momen
in 10th place.
England's Daryl Selby moves up to 13 in the September list, while India's Saurav Ghosal also rises one place, to No19.
September 2013 top 20 (inc. points average): 1 [1] Ramy Ashour EGY 1,638 2 [2] Gregory Gaultier FRA 1,109 3 [3] James Willstrop ENG 982 4 [4] Nick Matthew ENG 941 5 [5] Karim Darwish EGY 705 6 [6] Mohamed Elshorbagy EGY 674 7 [7] Peter Barker ENG 567 8 [8] Amr Shabana EGY 514 9 [9] Borja Golan ESP 471 10 [10] Tarek Momen EGY 459 11 [11] Omar Mosaad EGY 390 12 [12] Simon Rosner GER 347 13 [14] Daryl Selby ENG 336 14 [13] Cameron Pilley AUS 329 15 [15] Alister Walker BOT 310 16 [19] Miguel Angel Rodriguez COL 278 17 [16] Stephen Coppinger RSA 268 18 [18] Laurens Jan Anjema NED 265 19 [20] Saurav Ghosal IND 259 20 [23] Karim Abdel Gawad EGY 244
