PSA World Squash Rankings May 1 2007

Ramy Rises To World Top Three

Egyptian teen sensation Ramy Ashour has leapt to a career-high world No3 in the new April Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, issued today (Tuesday) by the Professional Squash Association.

The 19-year-old from Cairo shocked the squash world last month when he won the two biggest titles of the year so far - clinching the $200,000 Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open trophy and then the $120,000 Qatar Classic in Doha within six days!

It was less than 12 months ago that Ashour made history by winning the World Junior Championship title for a second time - and his rapid transition to the senior stage has already seen the remarkable youngster win four major PSA Tour titles this year.

Ashour's compatriot Amr Shabana retains his status as the world's No1 player in the new list, celebrating his 14th successive month at the top of the rankings. But Australia's World Open champion David Palmer returns to second place after achieving his seeding in both of the PSA Super Series Platinum events in Kuwait City and Qatar.

In a notable month for Egyptians, Wael El Hindi also records a career-high position in the new list. The 26-year-old from Cairo leaps four places to No10 to mark his top ten debut after reaching the quarter-finals in Kuwait and the last four in Doha.

USA's Julian Illingworth currently stands at 58th in the world.

England's Peter Barker continues his top 20 rise by moving to a best-ever 16th place - boosted by an unexpected quarter-final berth in the Qatar Classic.

     1      [1]        Amr Shabana               EGY
     2     [3]        David Palmer                AUS
     3     [5]        Ramy Ashour                EGY
     4     [2]        Gregory Gaultier          FRA
     5     [4]        Thierry Lincou             FRA
     6     [6]        Anthony Ricketts          AUS
     7     [7]        James Willstrop           ENG
     8     [8]        Nick Matthew              ENG
     9     [9]        John White                  SCO
     10    [14]      Wael El Hindi              EGY
     11    [12]      Lee Beachill                 ENG
     12    [11]       Karim Darwish              EGY
     13    [10]      Stewart Boswell           AUS
     14    [13]      Mohammed Abbas         EGY
     15    [15]      Adrian Grant                ENG
     16    [18]      Peter Barker                ENG
     17    [16]      Olli Tuominen               FIN
     18    [17]      Ong Beng Hee              MAS
     19    [19]      Mohd Azlan Iskandar   MAS
     20   [20]      Borja Golan                  ESP