Egyptian teen squash sensation Ramy Ashour will be making his first appearance in the UK since bursting into the world's top five this year when he makes his debut in the ATCO Super Series Finals – Manchester 2007 this week at the National Squash Centre in Sportcity.
The annual showcase event, which brings together the top eight qualifiers from the previous year's Professional Squash Association Super Series tournaments around the globe, will be staged in the English city of Manchester for the first time, from 9-12 August.
Egypt's two-times World Open champion Amr Shabana heads the star-studded cast. The 28-year-old left-hander from Cairo has dominated the sport since beginning his 17-month reign as world number one in April last year.
Shabana, who is making his fourth appearance in the event, will be joined in the ATCO Group by Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, the third seed and four-times European champion who is making his debut in the event; and Englishmen James Willstrop and British Open champion Nick Matthew, the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively, from Yorkshire.
Ramy Ashour joins fellow Egyptian Karim Darwish in the Manchester Group - both players making their debuts in the event. 19-year-old Ashour followed a distinguished junior career - which saw him become the first man to win the World Junior title twice - by racing up the senior rankings to reach world number two in June!
To qualify for this year's Finals, Ashour claimed two semi-final berths in 2006 Super Series events as well as reaching the final of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open in his maiden appearance in the event. This year, the remarkable youngster has already claimed three Super Series crowns!
But the two Egyptians will face stiff opposition in the Manchester Group from experienced Super Series Finals campaigners David Palmer, the reigning World Open champion from Australia, and Frenchman Thierry Lincou, a two-times winner of the title who is making his sixth successive appearance in the championship.
The four-day championships on the all-glass showcourt in Sportcity will feature three qualifying rounds in each of the pools, leading to finals (on Sunday) which will produce a 1-8 finish.
1st pool round:
ATCO Group
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [5] James Willstrop (ENG)
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [6] Nick Matthew (ENG)
Manchester Group
[7] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [8] Karim Darwish (EGY)
[2] David Palmer (AUS) v [4] Thierry Lincou (FRA)