WORLD SQUASH NEWS

Beachill To No2 In World Rankings

While England's Peter Nicol retains his No1 position in the new June Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, announced today (03 June) by the Professional Squash Association (PSA), his compatriot Lee Beachill leaps two places to a career-high second place to give England the top two players in the world for the first time.

France's Thierry Lincou (winner of last month's non-ranking Brit Insurance Super Series Finals title last month) holds onto the third position in the new list while Australia's David Palmer reclaims fourth place - pushing Scotland's John White, who was world No1 two months ago, down to fifth place.

Beachill, 26, from Pontefract in Yorkshire, has enjoyed a highly-successful run on the PSA Tour since recovering from ankle surgery a year ago.  He claimed his first Super Series title in December, beating his Commonwealth Games Doubles gold medal-winning partner Peter Nicol en-route to lifting the Qatar Classic title in Doha, then swept to victory in the Bermuda Open in March.  Since competing in the Super Series Finals, Beachill has undergone surgery for an injured shoulder.

Egypt's world champion Amr Shabana moves up to six in the new list, displacing compatriot Karim Darwish to become the highest-ranked Egyptian.  Fellow countryman Omar Elborolossy rises to 14 to equal his career-best position after winning the German Open title last week, whilst compatriot Mohammed Abbas celebrates a best-ever 15th position.

England's Adrian Grant also claims a career-high ranking in the June list.  The 23-year-old Londoner, who was runner-up in the German Open, moves up to 16.  Renan Lavigne consolidates his position as the third-placed Frenchman in the new list by moving two places to a career-best 18th position - eight places below Gregory Gaultier who returns to the top ten at ten.


1 [1] Peter Nicol ENG
2 [4] Lee Beachill ENG
3 [3] Thierry Lincou FRA
4 [5] David Palmer AUS
5 [2] John White SCO
6 [7] Amr Shabana EGY
7 [8] Jonathon Power CAN
8 [6] Karim Darwish EGY
9 [9] Nick Matthew ENG
10 [11] Gregory Gaultier FRA
11 [10] Anthony Ricketts AUS
12 [12] Joseph Kneipp AUS
13 [13] James Willstrop ENG
14 [15] Omar Elborolossy EGY
15 [17] Mohammed Abbas EGY
16 [18] Adrian Grant ENG
17 [16] Graham Ryding CAN
18 [20] Renan Lavigne FRA
19 [19] Mansoor Zaman PAK
20 [14] Ong Beng Hee MAS


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