Men's Road To Dubai Wide Open After British Open by Nathan Clarke photo squashpics.com
April 4, 2016
- The Road To Dubai for the 2015/16 Men's Dubai PSA World Series Finals
is wide open courtesy of last month’s electric Allam British Open
during which a dozen players have come into contention for a coveted
berth at the season-ending tournament - which brings only the top eight
players on the standings together in one of the sport's most lucrative
events.
Heading into the last World Series event of the
season, this month's El Gouna International, only the top four players
on the standings - Mohamed Elshorbagy, Gregory Gaultier, Nick Matthew
and Omar Mosaad - are assured of their place while a dozen
players including the likes of Ramy Ashour, Miguel Angel Rodriguez,
Tarek Momen, Cameron Pilley and more are set to battle it out for the
remaining four berths.
After surging to a runner-up finish
at the British Open three-time World Champion Ramy Ashour now finds
himself 40 points, the equivalent of a semi-final finish, outside of
the last qualification spot currently occupied by Pilley.
"It’s a very special event with the top eight players playing together at the same time," said Ashour.
"It’s
very explosive, when you’re playing the best eight players in the
world, that can be overwhelming. Playing it in Dubai as well is very
special, I think the PSA are doing a great job trying to put us in
different areas of the world and that is interesting. If I could make
it, I would be very happy.
"I’m just going to play my squash and, whatever happens, I’ll be happy."
Following
Matthew's withdrawal from the El Gouna International through injury
Ashour is now seeded to face Gaultier in the semi-finals where victory
for the Frenchman would end Ashour's hopes of competing in Dubai.
Ryan
Cuskelly, Marwan Elshorbagy, Tarek Momen and Karim Abdel Gawad all find
themselves chasing Pilley, with a quarter-final finish or better, and a
first round exit for Pilley or German Simon Rösner who occupies seventh
spot, likely to give them a real chance of reaching the iconic
tournament.
Men’s Road To Dubai Standings - After 6/7 Tournaments (Rank, Name, Points Total)
1 Mohamed Elshorbagy 540 2 Gregory Gaultier 270 3 Nick Matthew 225 4 Omar Mosaad 195 5= Mathieu Castagnet 135 5= Miguel Angel Rodriguez 135 7 Simon Rösner 130 8 Cameron Pilley 120 9 Ryan Cuskelly 100 10= Tarek Momen 95 10= Marwan ElShorbagy 95 10= Karim Abdel Gawad 95 13 Daryl Selby 90 14 Max Lee 85 15= Fares Dessouki 80 15= Ramy Ashour 80 17 Mazen Hesham 75
