Shabana Seeded To Win New Petrosport International On Home Soil

Egypt's world number one Amr Shabana is seeded to win his 14th PSA Super Series squash title in the Petrosport International Championship, the draw for which was revealed by the organisers today in Cairo.

The new $140,000 Super Series Platinum event gets underway at the Sky Club in Cairo tomorrow (Wednesday) following the completion of the qualifying finals today.

The Petrosport International - the fifth PSA Super Series event of the year - has attracted a world-class field, featuring seven Egyptians already in the main draw, plus a further six making a bid though the final qualifiers.

Top seed Shabana, the 28-year-old from Giza hoping to win the 22nd PSA Tour title of his career, faces a qualifier in the first round - but is expected to come up against fellow countryman Ramy Ashour in the semi-finals.

Ashour, the 20-year-old from Cairo who rocketed to No2 in the world rankings last year, is seeded three - and beat Shabana the last time they met in their home country, in the final of the Hurghada International in April.

Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, the current world number two, is expected to meet Shabana in Monday's final. The 25-year-old from Aix-en-Provence also takes on a qualifier in the first round.

1st qualifying round:
Yasir Butt (PAK) bye
Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt Wade Johnstone (AUS) 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9 (61m)
Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt Se Hyun Lee (KOR) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 (28m)
Simon Rosner (GER) bt Ali Amr Farag (EGY) 11-8, 11-3, 11-9 (37m)
Jan Koukal (CZE) bye
Ahmed Hawas (EGY) bt Domagoj Spoljar (CRO) 11-7, 11-3, 11-8 (25m)
Amr Swelim (EGY) bt Islam El Feky (EGY) 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 (20m)
Badr Abdel Aziz (SWE) bt Hatham Efat (EGY) 11-7, 11-3, 11-5 (20m)
Stephane Galifi (FRA) bt Mohamed Abdel Maksoud (EGY) 11-2, 11-4, 11-5 (17m)
Tom Richards (ENG) bt Mohamed El Kady (EGY) 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 (26m)
Amr Mansi (EGY) bt Mostafa Bayoumi (EGY) 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 (21m)
Julien Balbo (FRA) bye
Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) bt Mohamed Aboul Ghar (EGY) 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 (31m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Ahmed Abdel Latif (EGY) 11-0, 11-3, 11-1 (16m)
Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt Basem Makram (EGY) 11-5, 11-6, 11-1 (26m)
Tarek Momen (EGY) bye