Ramy Ashour Extends World Ranking Lead

Egypt's Ramy Ashour has extended his lead at the top of the October Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, published today by the Professional Squash Association, following his title success in September's ROWE British Grand Prix in Manchester.

Ashour, who celebrates his 23rd birthday today, claimed his second 2010 PSA Super Series crown when he beat home hero James Willstrop in a four-game final.

His unexpected final berth as fifth seed sees Englishman Willstrop leap two places to No4 in the new list - behind compatriot Nick Matthew at two, and Egyptian Amr Shabana at No3.

And Frenchman Thierry Lincou, a quarter-finalist in Manchester, also moves up - to No7 - after overtaking Englishman Peter Barker.

But perhaps the most notable riser in the top 20 is David Palmer, the distinguished Australian who notched up ten complete years in the world top ten in August. But within a few weeks of slipping to 12 in the September list, the 34-year-old from New South Wales reached the British GP semi-finals - and fully tested Ashour before the Egyptian ultimately prevailed.

"I haven't been able to play a match like that for the last four or five months," admitted Palmer, who is now back in the top 10 at No9.

While Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema returns to his career-high No11 in the October rankings, Malaysian Ong Beng Hee celebrates his highest ranking for more than a year by jumping two places to 17.

And after a gap of five months without any Pakistan player in the top 20, Aamir Atlas Khan celebrates his return to the elite list. The 20-year-old from Peshawar has already claimed two PSA Tour titles this year, and made it to the last 16 of the British Grand Prix in Manchester.

October top 20 (inc. points average):

1	[1]	Ramy Ashour	EGY	1,452
2	[2]	Nick Matthew	ENG	1,366
3	[3]	Amr Shabana	EGY	857
4	[6]	James Willstrop	ENG	766
5	[4]	Karim Darwish	EGY	761
6	[5]	Gregory Gaultier	FRA	734
7	[8]	Thierry Lincou	FRA	571
8	[7]	Peter Barker	ENG	570
9	[12]	David Palmer	AUS	431
10	[9]	Daryl Selby	ENG	403
11	[13]	Laurens Jan Anjema	NED	379
12	[10]	Mohamed El Shorbagy	EGY	378
13	[14]	Mohd Azlan Iskandar	MAS	366
14	[15]	Adrian Grant	ENG	345
15	[11]	Wael El Hindi	EGY	330
16	[16]	Cameron Pilley	AUS	315
17	[19]	Ong Beng Hee	MAS	285
18	[17]	Alister Walker	ENG	275
19	[18]	Stewart Boswell	AUS	270
20	[23]	Aamir Atlas Khan	PAK	253

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