IN A RELATIVELY unchanged list, Egypt's Amr Shabana holds onto his number one position in the new August Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, announced earlier this week by the Professional Squash Association. The 28-year-old from Cairo is ahead of compatriot Ramy Ashour at No 2; Australia's World Open champion David Palmer at three; and Frenchmen Gregory Gaultier and Thierry Lincou in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Australian Stewart Boswell, runner-up in last month's CIMB Malaysian Open, rises to 11th in the rankings while Englishman Peter Barker moves up a single slot, to celebrate a career-high No15 ranking in the new list. PSA Tour veteran Alex Gough also has much to celebrate a return to the top 20 for the first time this year. The 36-year-old Welshman, who reached a career-high No 5 in July 1998, won the Irish Open in April his first PSA Tour trophy in three years. Egypt had a liberal sprinkling of talent in the top 20 list with Wael El-Hindi remaining at number 10, Karim Darwish dropping to the 12th spot and Mohamed Abbas remaining the 14th seed. In women's squash, Malaysia's Nicol David enters into her 16th month as world number one, according to the new August Women's World Squash Rankings by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA). Victory in last month's CIMB Malaysian Open extended the 23-year-old from Penang's lead ahead of second-placed Australian Natalie Grinham, a surprise semi-final casualty in Kuala Lumpur. David's home soil triumph marked her 20th WISPA World Tour title and her 14th successive Tour final since reaching her first World Open climax in Hong Kong in December 2005. The world number one will join her WISPA colleagues in their ongoing pursuit of Tour silverware at the inaugural CIMB Singapore Masters which gets underway today. Natalie Grinham's older sister Rachael is at number three in the new list, ahead of England's Tania Bailey runner-up at Kuala Lumpur at four, and the USA's Natalie Grainger at number five. Egypt's Omneya Abdel-Kawy and Enjy Khairallah both preserved their positions in the women's top 20 list. Abdel-Kawy is seventh behind England's Vicky Botwright, while Khairallah maintains her number 15 spot. New Zealand's Shelley Kitchen leaps three places to a career-high No10 in the new list. The 27-year-old from Auckland, winner of the bronze medal in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, clinched the titles in the two most recent WISPA Tour events in which she competed the North Shore Open in her homeland in June and the Australian Open last month Compatriot Jaclyn Hawkes is also enjoying a best-ever ranking this month after moving to 19 following an impressive Tour run which included a surprise final berth in the Irish Open in April.
