Ramy Returns To Top Three In World Rankings

While Egypt's Karim Darwish extends his reign to six months at the top of the Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, according to the new June list published today by the Professional Squash Association, fellow countryman Ramy Ashour moves up to third place behind Frenchman Gregory Gaultier.

Ashour, the 21-year-old World Open champion from Cairo, has already claimed two PSA Tour titles this year - following his victory in the Davenport North American Open in February by taking the Hurghada International trophy on home soil in March.

Ashour leapfrogs compatriot and former world number one Amr Shabana, who slips to No4 - the three-time world champion's lowest position for three and a half years.

Nick Matthew cements his status as the top-ranked Englishman by moving up to a career-high-equalling fifth place. The 28-year-old from Sheffield has made rapid strides up the world rankings since returning to Tour action last September after a nine-month layoff following shoulder surgery. Matthew reached the finals in his first three PSA events of the year, taking the title in the Case Swedish Open in February.

His England team-mate Adrian Grant makes his long-awaited top ten debut in the new list. Runner-up in the Motor City Open and KL Open early in the year, Grant went on to win the Indian Challenger No2 at the Calcutta Racket Club to bring his career PSA Tour title haul to 16, thus making the Yorkshire-based Londoner the current Englishman with the most Tour titles.

And Spaniard Borja Golan is also celebrating a best-ever ranking in the June list. The 26-year-old from Santiago won his 19th Tour title at the Motor City Open in Detroit - and rises one place to No11 to become Spain's joint highest ever world-ranked player with Austin Adarraga, who reached 11 in May 1993!

1 [1] Karim Darwish EGY 1079
2 [2] Gregory Gaultier FRA 873
3 [4] Ramy Ashour EGY 741
4 [3] Amr Shabana EGY 735
5 [6] Nick Matthew ENG 667
6 [5] David Palmer AUS 576
7 [7] Peter Barker ENG 487
8 [8] Thierry Lincou FRA 433
9 [10] Wael El Hindi EGY 431
10 [11] Adrian Grant ENG 417
11 [12] Borja Golan ESP 385
12 [9] James Willstrop ENG 374
13 [13] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS 314
14 [14] Ong Beng Hee MAS 296
15 [15] Aamir Atlas Khan PAK 287
16 [16] Farhan Mehboob PAK 276
17 [17] Alister Walker ENG 274
18 [19] Laurens Jan Anjema NED 266
19 [18] Mohamed El Shorbagy EGY 260
20 [20] Stewart Boswell AUS 240