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30/06/2020
Women's July Rankings
Gohar Claims Women’s World No.1 Spot Following El
Welily Retirement
 Egypt’s
Nouran Gohar has today (July 1) become the new women’s World No.1 for
the first time following the retirement of previous incumbent Raneem El
Welily.
El Welily had topped the rankings for 19 months, while Gohar had sat at
World No.2 for the previous five months following wins at the U.S. Open
and Carol Weymuller Open earlier this season.
However, El Welily’s retirement means that the 22-year-old will now step
onto court following the suspension of the PSA World Tour as the sport’s
leading female player.
"It feels amazing to reach World No.1, I’ve been dreaming about this
moment since I was a kid and since I first held a squash racket in my
hand," said Gohar.
"Reaching this point in my career has always been a dream, especially
because I reached the No.2 spot back in 2017, but at that time it didn’t
feel like the No.1 spot was getting any closer. Over the last two
seasons I’ve been feeling more solid, more consistent, and I had some
really great battles, so I felt stronger on the tour, especially after
winning the British Open and U.S. Open back-to-back. But I never thought
it would be coming this soon.
"I was in shock when I heard about Raneem’s retirement, I didn’t expect
it at all by any means. She was the one who called me and she told me
before announcing it on social media because she wanted it to be
something personal. I had really mixed emotions, I was sad that one of
the legends of the game and a good friend and teammate was retiring, she
is like a big sister to me and we have shared a lot of memories
together."
While the men’s and women’s PSA World Rankings are currently frozen due
to the suspension of the PSA World Tour, El Welily’s retirement sees her
come out of the rankings, meaning everyone else moves up a place.
That means Nour El Sherbini moves back up to No.2, while Camille Serme
(No.3), Nour El Tayeb (No.4) and Sarah-Jane Perry complete the top five.
For Perry, it’s the first time she has reached the top five, and she is
the first English player to rank that highly since Laura Massaro in
November 2018.
Hania El Hammamy moves up to a career-high No.6 ranking ahead of Amanda
Sobhy (No.7), Joelle King (No.8) and Tesni Evans (No.9). India’s Joshna
Chinappa returns to the top 10 for the first time since September 2016.
Salma Hany reaches a career-high ranking of No.11, while Yathreb Adel
(No.13), Rowan Elaraby (No.15), Nele Gilis (No.16), Nadine Shahin
(No.17), Tinne GIlis (No.18), and Nada Abbas (No.19) also achieve their
best ever World Rankings.
Meanwhile, Coline Aumard breaks into the top 20 for the first time in
her career. It is the first time since February 2011 that the top 20 has
included two female French players.
The men’s rankings remain unchanged, with Egypt’s Mohamed ElShorbagy
staying at World No.1 for a sixth month in succession ahead of Ali Farag
(No.2), Karim Abdel Gawad (No.3), Tarek Momen (No.4) and Paul Coll
(No.5).
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