Thierry Lincou of France Reclaims World #1 Spot

Jan 5, 2005 by Howard Harding © 2005
match sequence © 2004 Debra Tessier

[top Americas players]

Thierry Lincou (r) reclaims #1 and Anthony Ricketts moves up to 11 going into '05. photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

It has been an eventful year for World #1 Thierry Lincou. He began 2004 by becoming the First Frenchman to achieve the world No1 position. He then quickly surrendered that prize, and though playing steadily had trouble breaking through to the top. That changed by midyear, and now on Jan 1 2005, Thierry Lincou has reclaimed the top position in the new January Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, announced today (Wednesday) by the Professional Squash Association.

Lincou, 28, from Marseille, succeeds England's Lee Beachill, who slips to two, while fellow Englishman Peter Nicol stays at three, and Australian David Palmer at four.

Thierry Lincou enjoyed a highly successful run on the PSA Tour in 2004, reaching the finals of the Super Series Finals in London, the Hong Kong Open and the Canadian Classic in Toronto - lifting the trophies in all three. In December, he reached the World Open final in Qatar for the second successive year - and capped his sensational season by beating Beachill to win the premier title for the first time.

England's James Willstrop also makes a stunning leap in the new list: The 21-year-old from Pontefract in Yorkshire jumps eight places to a career-high No5 - becoming the third-highest Englishman in the rankings. The former world junior champion consistently performed beyond his seeding on the PSA Tour last year - last month reaching the World Open quarter-finals as the 12th seed, then winning the Pakistan Open trophy in dazzling style in the eighth-seeded position.

Canada's Jonathon Power moves up, to sixth place, while France's Gregory Gaultier also records a career-best ranking by rising a single place to No9.

Semi-final berths in his last three PSA events - the Canadian Classic, CNS International and World Open - have taken Canada's Graham Ryding up to 13, his highest world ranking for more than a year.

Following his triumph in the Country View Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur on New Year's Eve, Malaysia's Mohd Azlan Iskandar makes his anticipated top twenty debut at 19 in the new list, up two places from 21.

A notable absentee from the latest ranking list is Egypt's Omar Elborolossy, who has retired from the PSA as a result of his recurrent knee injury. The 29-year-old from Cairo, a former world No14, rounded off a successful 11-year association with the PSA in May when he won the German Open, the 12th title of his career.

1 [2] Thierry Lincou FRA
2 [1] Lee Beachill ENG
3 [3] Peter Nicol ENG
4 [4] David Palmer AUS
5 [13] James Willstrop ENG
6 [9] Jonathon Power CAN
7 [7] Nick Matthew ENG
8 [8] Karim Darwish EGY
9 [10] Gregory Gaultier FRA
10 [5] Amr Shabana EGY
11 [14] Anthony Ricketts AUS
12 [6] John White SCO
13 [19] Graham Ryding CAN
14 [12] Adrian Grant ENG
15 [11] Joseph Kneipp AUS
16 [15] Mohammed Abbas EGY
17 [17] Ong Beng Hee MAS
18 [18] Dan Jenson AUS
19 [21] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS
20 [24] Paul Price AUS

[complete rankings for January]

Other Players from the Americas in the top 100 (JAn 1 2005):

30 (32) Shahier Razik CAN
58 (66) Matthew Giuffre CAN
62 (68) Eric Galvez MEX
69 (77) Rafael Alarcon BRA
79 (69) Viktor Berg CAN
70 (78) Nick Kyme BER
82 (89) Shawn DeLierre CAN
86 (92) Ian Power CAN
90 (99) David Phillips CAN
99 (103) Christoper Gordon USA

and the other top Americans:

121 (119) Beau River USA
127 (128) Dylan Patterson USA
131 (133) Preston Quick USA
135 (138) Michael Puertas
138 (142) Julian Illingworth USA

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