Egyptians Dominate British Open Qualifiers

Egyptians claimed four of the eight qualifying slots in the Allam British Open Squash Championships to boost to nine the nation's count in the main draw of the fourth PSA World Series event of the year which gets underway today at the KC Stadium in Hull in the English county of Yorkshire.

Andrew Wagih Shoukry became the lowest-ranked player to qualify after pulling off one of the biggest qualifying finals upsets. The 22-year-old from Cairo beat Scotland's world No31 Alan Clyne 7-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 12-10 in 86 minutes to make his British Open debut.

"When I was down 2/0, I guess I still I had that hunger," said Wagih. "I knew it was going to be so hard to try and beat one of the fittest player on the circuit, but I just kept fighting and now the tournament is not finished, let's see what it brings!"

Alexandria-born Marwan Elshorbagy became the youngest qualifier when he beat fellow Egyptian Omar Abdel Meguid 11-7, 11-9, 11-5.

"I'm happy with the way I played today," said the UK-based 19-year-old who made his British Open debut last year. "It's nice finally get through again, especially without having too heavy matches."

Home interest in the 2013 British Open is also boosted by three - with London-born Joe Lee suffering an 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 defeat to Karim Abdel Gawad only to then receive the 'Lucky Loser' slot in the draw (created by the withdrawal of No7 seed Amr Shabana), where he will again face the Egyptian qualifier in a re-match!

Ipswich veteran Jonathan Kemp earned his sixth appearance in the main draw since 2004 after defeating Malaysian Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan 11-7, 11-3, 6-11, 11-6, while Guernsey-born Chris Simpson saw off Egyptian teenager Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry 11-6, 11-8, 11-3 to secure a fourth appearance in the first round.

Updated 1st round draw:
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Omar Mosaad (EGY)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v [Q] Chris Simpson (ENG)
[LL] Joe Lee (ENG) v [Q] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
[8] Borja Golan (ESP) v Adrian Grant (ENG)
[6] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Cameron Pilley (AUS) v Ong Beng Hee (MAS)
Simon Rosner (GER) v [WC] Adrian Waller (ENG)
[3] James Willstrop (ENG) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
[4] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Alister Walker (BOT)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [Q] Jonathan Kemp (ENG)
Tarek Momen (EGY) v [Q] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY)
[7] Peter Barker (ENG) v [Q] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY)
[5] Karim Darwish (EGY) v [Q] Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY)
Daryl Selby (ENG) v Olli Tuominen (FIN)
Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) v [Q] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [Q] Henrik Mustonen (FIN)