By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent

Egypt’s Mohamed ElShorbagy has returned to the top of the men’s PSA World Rankings for the fifth time in his career after he overtook compatriot Ali Farag to reach the No.1 spot.

ElShorbagy has now recorded 50 months of his career at the summit of the PSA men’s World Rankings following his semi-final victory over New Zealand’s Paul Coll at the PSA World Championships last month which saw him take back the No.1 spot that he lost to Farag in October 2020.

ElShorbagy is the fifth longest-serving male World No.1 of all time, with his 50 months atop the rankings only bettered by Jansher Khan, Jahangir Khan, Peter Nicol and Geoff Hunt.

Farag moves down to No.2, while Egypt’s Tarek Momen (No.3), New Zealand’s Paul Coll (No.4) and Egypt’s Marwan ElShorbagy (No.5) all complete the top five.

Karim Abdel Gawad (No.6), Fares Dessouky (No.7), Diego Elias (No.8), Mostafa Asal (No.9) and Joel Makin (No.10) also round off an otherwise unchanged top 10 for the men in August.

France’s Gregoire Marche has moved up a place to a career-high World Ranking of No.12 as Egypt’s Mohamed Abouelghar drops to No.16. Mazen Hesham rises two places to a joint career-high of No.13 in the world, which he last reached in December 2015.

Marche’s compatriot and former World No.1 Gregory Gaultier rises three places to join him in the men’s top 20 for the first time since April 2019 following a serious knee injury which saw him ruled out of action for 15 months. Meanwhile, Egypt’s Youssef Ibrahim breaks into the top 20 for the first time in his career as he rises six places to No.18.

The rest of the top 20 includes Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez (No.11), India’s Saurav Ghosal (No.14), Egypt’s Zahed Salem (No.15), Omar Mosaad (No.16) and England’s James Willstrop (No.19).

The biggest movers on the men’s tour are Roee Avraham of Israel and Charlie Lee of England. Avraham moves up 405 spots to No.255 in the world, while Lee enjoys a rise of 248 places to No.412 after his semi-final finish at The Eriswell Challenge at St George’s Hill marked his first PSA Tour appearance since 2018.

PSA Men’s World Rankings Top 20 – August 2021.

Pictures courtesy of  PSA