WORLD SQUASH NEWS

Lincou Strengthens Hold On World Number One Ranking

France's Thierry Lincou has widened the gap ahead of England’s second-placed Lee Beachill at the top of the new August Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, produced by the Professional Squash Association.

Lincou, the 29-year-old world champion from Marseille, claimed his first PSA Tour title of the year last week with a powerful performance in the Bank Alfalah Pakistan Open in Karachi .  The most successful French squash player of all time, Lincou beat ’s David Palmer, the world No3, in the final to rack up the 14th PSA title of his career.

While Canada's Jonathon Power and England's Peter Nicol retain fourth and fifth place, respectively, Australian Anthony Ricketts continues his ranking rise by moving up to sixth place – boosted by a semi-final berth in the Pakistan Open.

Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, an unexpected semi-finalist in Karachi , returns to the top ten at ten – while lower down the list, ’s Simon Parke makes a welcome return to the top twenty for the first time since the end of 2003.

But perhaps the most significant development in the latest PSA list is the rise to a career-high No16 of Malaysia's Mohd Azlan Iskandar, who overtakes for the first time in his career his compatriot and long-time Malaysian No1 Ong Beng Hee, who slips to 18.

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

For full list – see www.psa-squash.com/