Abdel Kawy Up To Six In New World Rankings

While Malaysia's Nicol David maintains her grip on pole position in the May Women's World Squash Rankings, Egyptian Omneya Abdel Kawy leaps three places to No6 in the list published today by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA).

Abdel Kawy, 22, from Cairo, claimed her fifth WISPA World Tour title last month at the Hurghada International in her home country - reaching the final for the fifth time in a row after upsetting Australia's world champion Rachael Grinham in the semi-finals.

Grinham retains her third place in the list, just behind younger sister Natalie Grinham, at No2, and ahead of fourth-placed Natalie Grainger, from the USA, and England's Tania Bailey at five.

Dutch star Vanessa Atkinson, the former world champion who reached the semi-finals of March's KL Open in Malaysia unseeded, rises to nine.

Australia's Kasey Brown celebrates a career-high ranking in the May list: The 22-year-old from New South Wales won the Atwater Cup in Canada last month - bringing her Tour title haul to eight - and now rises to world No13.

France's Isabelle Stoehr is also celebrating a return to the top 20. The 28-year-old from Montpellier finished as runner-up in the Atwater Cup - and moves up four places to 18.

Of special note is the fact that players occupying the first seven places represent seven different countries - and the top twenty is made up of players from 10 nations!

1 [1] Nicol David MAS
2 [2] Natalie Grinham NED
3 [3] Rachael Grinham AUS
4 [4] Natalie Grainger USA
5 [5] Tania Bailey ENG
6 [9] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY
7 [7] Shelley Kitchen NZL
8 [6] Jenny Duncalf ENG
9 [10] Vanessa Atkinson NED
10 [8] Vicky Botwright ENG
11 [11] Alison Waters ENG
12 [12] Laura Lengthorn-Massaro ENG
13 [15] Kasey Brown AUS
13 [14] Rebecca Chiu HKG
14 [14] Madeline Perry IRL
15 [16] Engy Kheirallah EGY
16 [17] Jaclyn Hawkes NZL
18 [22] Isabelle Stoehr FRA
19 [18] Annelize Naude NED
20 [19] Samantha Teran MEX