Darwish Makes Way For Walker In World Series Finals

A hamstring injury sustained in last year's Saudi PSA World Open has caused Egypt's world No3 Karim Darwish to pull out of next week's ATCO PSA World Series Squash Finals in London.

The ATCO PSA World Series Finals, which will be staged at The Queen's Club from 11-15 January, is the culmination of the 2010 PSA Super Series tour.

Formerly known as the Super Series Finals, the Queen's Club event will see the world's eight top male players competing for the Tour championship title and the highest first prize ever played for in the UK and Europe.

Darwish ended the year in fourth place in the 2010 PSA Super Series Rankings after reaching three event finals and claiming the titles in the El Gouna International and the Qatar Classic.

Darwish will be replaced in the eight-man field by Alister Walker, the world No20 from England who has recently relocated to New York. The Botswana-born 28-year-old will be making his debut in the event.

The draw has also been revised, with the players now lining in two pools as follows:

Pool A: [1] Ramy Ashour (Egypt), [3] James Willstrop (England), [5] Thierry Lincou (France), [8] Alister Walker (England)

Pool B: [2] Nick Matthew (England), [4] Amr Shabana (Egypt), [6] Peter Barker (England), v [7] Wael El Hindi (Egypt)

The eight players will play best-of-three-game matches in two pools of four from Tuesday to Thursday (11-13 January) before best-of-five game semi-finals on Friday 14 January, followed by the Grand Final on Saturday 15 January.

The World Series Finals will take place in an iconic inflatable structure, specifically created for the show-piece event. Inside the structure, the 'Z-Court' will contain the very latest in squash-viewing - enabling uninterrupted 360° views of the action.

The purple glass court features innovative lighting and natural flooring - and has been specifically developed to capture the speed of the game on camera and produce the best quality viewing experience.

Pool playing schedule:

Tuesday - 1st pool round:
Pool A
[3] James Willstrop (ENG) v [8] Alister Walker (ENG)
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [5] Thierry Lincou (FRA)
Pool B
[4] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [6] Peter Barker (ENG)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [7] Wael El Hindi (EGY)

Wednesday - 2nd pool round:
Pool A
[5] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v [8] Alister Walker (ENG)
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [3] James Willstrop (ENG)
Pool B
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [4] Amr Shabana (EGY)
[6] Peter Barker (ENG) v [7] Wael El Hindi (EGY)

Thursday - 3rd pool round:
Pool A
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [8] Alister Walker (ENG)
[3] James Willstrop (ENG) v [5] Thierry Lincou (FRA)
Pool B
[4] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [7] Wael El Hindi (EGY)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [6] Peter Barker (ENG)

Official website: www.worldseriesfinals.com