WORLD SQUASH NEWS

Three Finals Take Kawy To Career-High Ranking

While Australia's Rachael Grinham narrowly retains her place at the top of the Women's World Squash Rankings, according to the new February list announced today (Tuesday) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA), Egyptian teenager Omneya Abdel Kawy leaps three places to a career-high No7 after reaching three WISPA World Tour event finals in January.

Grinham, 27, from Toowoomba in Queensland, heads an unchanged top four - though second-placed world champion Vanessa Atkinson, of the Netherlands, has reduced the gap behind the Australian.  Rachael's younger Grinham sister Natalie Grinham is at three, and Malaysia's Nicol David at four.

Omneya Abdel Kawy, 19, from Cairo, set off at a blistering pace in the USA this year - winning the Marsh & McLennan Apawamis Open in Rye, then reaching the finals of both the Greenwich Open and Dayton Open in Ohio to celebrate her eighth appearance in a WISPA final in her short career.

A month after the absence of English representation in the world top five for the first time in living memory, Linda Elriani restores order by marking her return to the No5 position.  The 32-year-old from Eastbourne in Sussex showed that there are few players that can still live with her pace and experience by claiming two WISPA titles in January. 

After retaining her title in the Greenwich Open, Elriani beat Abdel Kawy for the second time in a week in the final of the Dayton Open to lift her 14th WISPA trophy since 1993.

Lower down the order, Hong Kong's Rebecca Chiu also reaches a career milestone by moving up a single place to a best-ever No16 ranking.

1 [1] Rachael Grinham AUS
2 [2] Vanessa Atkinson NED
3 [3] Natalie Grinham AUS
4 [4] Nicol David MAS
5 [6] Linda Elriani ENG
6 [5] Natalie Grainger USA
7 [10] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY
8 [8] Jenny Tranfield ENG
9 [7] Rebecca Macree ENG
10 [9] Vicky Botwright ENG
11 [12] Jenny Duncalf ENG
12 [11] Fiona Geaves ENG
13 [13] Shelley Kitchen NZL
14 [14] Madeline Perry IRL
15 [16] Isabelle Stoehr FRA
16 [17] Rebecca Chiu HKG
17 [15] Tania Bailey ENG
18 [20] Pamela Nimmo SCO
19 [19] Annelize Naude NED
20 [18] Stephanie Brind ENG

For the complete WISPA ranking list, see www.wispa.net