WORLD SQUASH NEWS

Jackman Holds, But Grinham & Atkinson Rise

England's Cassie Jackman has retained the No1 position in the new March Women's World Squash Rankings, announced today (01 March) by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA) - but Australia's Rachael Grinham and Dutch No1 Vanessa Atkinson rise to career-best second and third positions, respectively, after successes in last week's Qatar Airways Challenge in Doha.

In reaching the final in her third successive WISPA World Tour event at the weekend, Jackman made sure of her second month at the top of the world rankings.  The victory over Rachael Grinham in a five-game 87-minute marathon semi-final, however, took its toll on the 31-year-old from Norwich in Norfolk in the final.  Vanessa Atkinson, 27, from The Hague, not only claimed her maiden Grand Prix title, but now her best ever world ranking.

USA's Natalie Grainger, who slips to four after a miserable run in the Qatar Airways Challenge in which she was a second round casualty after suffering from both an infection and flu, will hope to repair the damage in this week's Washington Summit in which she is seeded to win her first title of the year in her home town of Washington DC.

Egypt's Omneya Abdel Kawy, Grainger's conqueror in Doha, makes her top ten debut in the new list.  Her entry at No10 makes the 18-year-old world junior champion from Cairo the highest-ranked Egyptian woman of all-time and brings the number of countries represented in the top ten to six for the first time.

Ireland's Madeline Perry also boasts a career-high ranking in the new list, rising two places to 17 after reaching the last sixteen of the Doha Challenge following a notable upset over England's world No11 Vicky Botwright.

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

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