Young Stars Surge Ahead In New World Rankings

While Amr Shabana retains his supremacy at the top of the new November Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, issued today by the Professional Squash Association, three of the youngest players on the Tour record highest career rankings in the top twenty.

Shabana, who won last month's Cathay Pacific Swiss Privilege Hong Kong Open to take his PSA title total for the year to four, maintains his lead ahead of second-placed Australian David Palmer and France's Thierry Lincou, the world No3.

But while England's 23-year-old James Willstrop returns to No4, Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, also 23, leaps two places to a best-ever No5 - giving France two players in the world top five together for the first time ever!

Gaultier, from Aix-en-Provence, has reached three PSA finals - including the World Open - since August, and won the Hungarian Open last month.

Egypt's Ramy Ashour - the only teenager in the world's top 40 - has made further strides this month since bursting into the top 20 in October. The 19-year-old from Cairo, who reached the Hong Kong Open final unseeded, now makes his top ten debut at No9 - becoming, for the first time, the second-highest-ranked Egyptian in the list.

Despite the retirement of Peter Nicol since last month, England's presence in the world top 20 is unchanged following the entry of Peter Barker. The 23-year-old left-hander from Essex, who won the Colombian Open in September and was a surprise Hong Kong Open quarter-finalist, celebrates a career-high No20 ranking.

1 [1] Amr Shabana EGY
2 [2] David Palmer AUS
3 [3] Thierry Lincou FRA
4 [5] James Willstrop ENG
5 [7] Gregory Gaultier FRA
6 [4] Anthony Ricketts AUS
7 [8] Nick Matthew ENG
8 [9] Lee Beachill ENG
9 [13] Ramy Ashour EGY
10 [11] Karim Darwish EGY
11 [10] John White SCO
12 [12] Stewart Boswell AUS
13 [15] Adrian Grant ENG
14 [16] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS
15 [16] Ong Beng Hee MAS
16 [18] Olli Tuominen FIN
17 [14] Wael El Hindi EGY
18 [19] Mohammed Abbas EGY
19 [21] Graham Ryding CAN
20 [23] Peter Barker ENG