Shabana Completes Year As World Number One
Title victories in the Qatar Classic and Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open in November have not only extended the Egyptian's unbroken run at the top of the rankings to 21 months - but have also helped Shabana to widen the points gap ahead of fellow Egyptian Ramy Ashour (currently nursing a foot injury) who remains at No2.
While France's Gregory Gaultier and Australia's David Palmer remain at four and five, respectively, England's Nick Matthew overtakes compatriot James Willstrop to reach a career-high-equalling No5.
Egypt's Wael El Hindi celebrates a career-best world No9 ranking in the new list - while Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee moves back to No16 to end the year at the same level that he started the year.
Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema makes his long-awaited top 20 debut in the new list, at 20. The 25-year-old from The Hague upset seeds in both the Qatar Classic and Hong Kong Open to reach the last 16 of both Super Series events.
NB: The December ranking list does not take into account results in the recent Endurance World Open in Bermuda, the final of which took place on 1st December.
1 [1] Amr Shabana EGY
2 [2] Ramy Ashour EGY
3 [3] Gregory Gaultier FRA
4 [4] David Palmer AUS
5 [6] Nick Matthew ENG
6 [5] James Willstrop ENG
7 [7] Thierry Lincou FRA
8 [8] Karim Darwish EGY
9 [11] Wael El Hindi EGY
10 [10] John White SCO
11 [9] Anthony Ricketts AUS
12 [12] Lee Beachill ENG
13 [13] Peter Barker ENG
14 [14] Mohammed Abbas EGY
15 [15] Stewart Boswell AUS
16 [18] Ong Beng Hee MAS
17 [16] Olli Tuominen FIN
18 [17] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS
19 [19] Adrian Grant ENG
20 [21] Laurens Jan Anjema NED
For full list – see www.psa-squash.com/