Women : Kennedy makes the top eight
England’s Georgina Kennedy has reached the top eight of the PSA Women’s World Rankings for the first time following a month which saw her reach the last 16 of the El Gouna International and make her debut at the season-ending CIB PSA World Tour Finals.
The 25-year-old from London has had a meteoric rise up the rankings over the past 12 months and was ranked as low as No.105 in July of 2021. She can now lay claim to a place amongst the top eight players in the world ahead of the new season, which begins next month.
Nouran Gohar sees out the season as World No.1, marking four successive months as the female game’s leading player. Reigning World Champion Nour El Sherbini finished the season strongly and sits at No.2 after beating Gohar to win the World Tour Finals last month. Hania El Hammamy stays at No.3, while Amanda Sobhy and Joelle King complete the top five.
Egypt’s Nour El Tayeb has taken a step closer to a sensational return to the top 10 as she moves up three spots to sit at No.11. The 29-year-old spent 14 months away from the game due to the birth of her daughter, but has been in tremendous form over the past two months, reaching the semi-finals of both the CIB PSA World Championships and the El Gouna International.
Belgium’s Nele Gilis drops a place to No.12 and sits one place ahead of younger sister Tinne, who reaches a career-high ranking of No.13. Egypt’s Nada Abbas drops two spots to No.14, while Farida Mohamed’s Mauritius Open triumph sees her rise three places to a career-high No.15 ranking.
Likewise, Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam moves up three spots to a career-high ranking of No.16, while India’s Joshna Chinappa drops to No.17.
With a rise of 200 places, South Africa’s Cheyna Wood is the biggest mover on the women’s tour this month. Wood has moved up to No.249 after winning the Assore/Balwin Johannesburg Open on her PSA Challenger Tour debut.
Men : Asal reaches top three
Egypt’s Mostafa Asal has broken into the top three of the PSA Men’s World Rankings after a sensational month which saw him win both the El Gouna International and CIB PSA World Tour Finals.
The 21-year-old is the youngest man since the legendary Ramy Ashour in April 2008 to feature inside the top three of the men’s rankings and captured the third and fourth major titles of his burgeoning career in June.
First, he toppled World No.1 Ali Farag and World No.2 Paul Coll to win in El Gouna, before he repeated the trick three weeks later to win the final tournament of the season and retain his title at the World Tour Finals.
Farag and Coll retain the top spots on the rankings, while Peru’s Diego Elias moves up to a career-high No.4 spot after winning the Mauritius Open last month. Despite a runner-up finish in Mauritius, Mohamed ElShorbagy falls two spots to No.5, marking his lowest ranking since November 2013.
Tarek Momen stays at No.6, while Joel Makin remains at No.7. Mazen Hesham, Marwan ElShorbagy and Fares Dessouky complete the top 10.
Youssef Ibrahim, Karim Abdel Gawad) and Gregoire Marche retain their places, with Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller rising two spots to a career-high ranking of No.14. India’s Saurav Ghosal drops a place to No.15 and sits ahead of Miguel Rodriguez, who falls to No.16.
Youssef Soliman stays at No.17 but there is a rise to a career-high ranking for Frenchman Victor Crouin as he moves up two spots to No.18. Raphael Kandra and Baptiste Masotti complete the top 20.
England’s Adam Murrills is the biggest mover on the men’s tour, rising 270 places to No.558 after he reached the last 16 of the Carey Olsen Tortola Classic on his first PSA Tour appearance since 2018.
