WORLD SQUASH NEWS

Atkinson In Sight Of Top World Ranking

Vanessa Atkinson will begin her defence of the Qatar Airways Challenge title in Doha next week knowing that her victory over Rachael Grinham in last week's Texas Open final means that, as long as she makes the final, she will be guaranteed world number one status for the first time in May - even if the Australian were to lift the trophy.

The 29-year-old from the Netherlands has been narrowing the gap behind Rachael Grinham since first reaching No2 in the WISPA world rankings in January.  Atkinson's Texas Open triumph, which was her 15th title success on the WISPA World Tour since November 2000, take her ahead of her Queensland rival in the provisional list - with the final standings depending on the outcome of the Qatar Airways Challenge, the fourth WISPA Grand Prix event of the year.

The Doha event, from 19-24 April, features all the WISPA top thirty two ranked players.  Second seed Atkinson meets Malaysia's Sharon Wee in the first round, while Grinham faces a qualifier.

The Challenge will be the second played under the banner of Qatar Airways, the fast-growing airline which also sponsors the WISPA one-hour highlights TV programming from Grand Prix events which are offered to TV stations on every continent of the world.

A minor rescheduling of the event means that the two finalists will gain a rest day after the semi-finals - the two semi-finals taking place on Friday 22nd April, followed by the final on Sunday 24th.

England's Jenny Tranfield, originally the eighth seed, has withdrawn from the event following the foot injury she sustained during the Texas Open.  The world No8 is confident of recovering in time for the European Team Championships in Amsterdam at the end of the month.

1st round draw:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v Qualifier
[15] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) v Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG)
[5] Linda Elriani (ENG) v Qualifier
[12] Fiona Geaves (ENG) v Qualifier
[4] Nicol David (MAS) v Latasha Khan (USA)
[10] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) v Alison Waters (ENG)
[8] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v Tamsyn Leevey (NZL)
[11] Madeline Perry (IRL) v Pamela Nimmo (SCO)
[13] Annelize Naude (NED) v Qualifier
[6] Natalie Grainger (USA) v Qualifier
[9] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v Qualifier
[3] Natalie Grinham (AUS) v Carla Khan (PAK)
[16] Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) v Qualifier
[7] Vicky Botwright (ENG) v Stephanie Brind (ENG)
[14] Tania Bailey (ENG) v Qualifier
[2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) v Sharon Wee (MAS