Shabana Holds Off Ashour In New World Rankings

Amr Shabana extends his reign at the top of the Dunlop PSA Men's World Rankings into a 19th successive month, according to the new October list published by the Professional Squash Association - but the 28-year-old from Cairo is only marginally ahead of fellow Egyptian Ramy Ashour.

Despite winning two PSA Super Series events this year, Shabana is under threat from his young compatriot who already has five 2007 Tour titles to his name. While Shabana exited at the semi-final stage of last month's Dunlop British Open, 20-year-old Ashour gave the world-renowned tournament a miss - preferring to focus on this week's US Open in New York.

Gregory Gaultier, who became the first Frenchman to win the British Open in the 77-year history of the event, moves to third place in the new list - with Australia's David Palmer slipping to four.

Victory in September's Prince English Grand Prix, coupled with a quarter-final berth in the British Open, have lifted James Willstrop to fifth place - the Englishman's highest position this year.

Egypt's Karim Darwish also registers a return to the world's top ten after earning his 12th PSA Tour title at the CNS International in Pakistan last month.

Peter Barker consolidates his status as the fourth highest-ranked Englishman by moving to a career-high world No14 place. After retaining his Colombian Open title in August, the 24-year-old from Essex secured his first quarter-final berth in the British Open after upsetting Egypt's Wael El Hindi.

Spaniard Borja Golan also marks a best-ever ranking in the new list - moving up to 19 after winning the Circuito Mundial De Squash in Colombia in September, his 15th Tour title triumph.

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