Nine months at the top for Raneem El Welily
By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent

Egypt’s Zeina Mickawy has broken into the top 20 of the PSA Women’s World Rankings for the first time in her career.

The 20-year-old from Alexandria leaps ahead of England’s Millie Tomlinson and Emily Whitlock to break the top 20.

Egypt’s Raneem El Welily tops the world rankings for a ninth consecutive month ahead of Nour El Sherbini (No.2), Camille Serme (No.3), Nouran Gohar (No.4) and Nour El Tayeb (No.5).

An unchanged top 10 is completed by New Zealand’s Joelle King (No.6), England’s Sarah-Jane Perry (No.7), America’s Amanda Sobhy (No.8), Wales’ Tesni Evans (No.9) and Hong Kong’s Annie Au.

Alison Waters stays at No.11, ahead of Victoria Lust (No.12), Joshna Chinappa (No.13), Salma Hany (No.14) and Hania El Hammamy (No.15).

Yathreb Adel (No.16), Joey Chan (No.17), Nele Gilis No.18), and Olivia Blatchford Clyne (No.19) make up the rest of the top 20.

The biggest movers are Egyptian pair Kenzy Ayman and Nadeen Kotb, who rise 67 places to No.156 and No.204, respectively.

PSA Women’s World Rankings Top 20 – August 2019 .

Report by SEAN REUTHE (PSA). Edited by Alan Thatcher.

Picture and graphic courtesy of PSA

Welsh ace stays at British number one
By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent

Welshman Joel Makin has risen above Egypt’s Omar Mosaad to sit at No.12 in August PSA Men’s World Rankings.

The Birmingham-based Makin, 24, rising star of the Robert Owen Academy, advances one spot and swaps places with Mosaad in the only move in an otherwise unchanged top 20. Makin returns to his highest career ranking, first achieved in May this year. He is ahead of fellow Brits Declan James, James Willstrop and Daryl Selby, who are ranked at 17, 18 and 19.

The rankings are once again led by Egypt’s world champion Ali Farag, who makes it six months at No.1. Mohamed ElShorbagy (No.2), Tarek Momen (No.3), Karim Abdel Gawad (No.4) and Germany’s Simon Rösner round out the top five.

New Zealand’s Paul Coll stays at No.6 ahead of Egypt’s Mohamed Abouelghar (No.7), Peru’s PanAm Games Gold Medal winner Diego Elias (No.8), Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez (No.9) and India’s Saurav Ghosal.

Marwan ElShorbagy retains the No.11 spot ahead of Makin and Mosaad, with Egyptian duo Zahed Salem and Fares Dessouky completing the top 15.

France’s Gregoire Marche, English trio James, Willstrop and Selby, and Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly take the final spots inside the top 20.

The biggest riser on the men’s tour was Australia’s Ethan Eyles – the son of former World Champion Rodney – who moves up 94 places to World No.298 after appearing at the Australian Open and Tasmanian Open on home soil.

Spain’s Ivan Perez was also a significant mover, rising 84 places to World No.349.

PSA Men’s World Rankings Top 20 – August 2019 .

Report by SEAN REUTHE (PSA). Edited by ALAN THATCHER. 

Pictures and graphic courtesy of PSA 

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – Freddie Rahmer was declared the winner of the Billy Kimmel Memorial for 410 sprint cars at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night, taking $3,800 for his fourth oval win of the season.

The 25-lap event was marred by a crash late in the race that killed a spectator in the infield.

Alan Krimes and Chad Trout won the heat races and shared the front row for the main event. Trout grabbed the lead at the drop of the green but Krimes shot by him off of turn two, taking over the top spot.

Rahmer then moved into second and Cory Haas into third.

The yellow flag waved with four laps completed for track point leader Danny Dietrich as his car was sitting the wrong direction against the third turn fence with a flat left rear tire and other damage.

Dietrich was towed to the pits and he was done for the night.

Rahmer ducked inside of Krimes in turn one on the restart but Krimes’ momentum off of the cushion kept him out front and then Haas challenged Rahmer for second in the third corner but to no avail.

The yellow flag again unfurled with seven laps completed.

Krimes again controlled the restart and pulled away from Rahmer, Haas and Kyle Moody as they blasted around the cushion.

In traffic, Krimes had to duck off of the cushion to miss the slower car of Barry Shearer entering turn three and Rahmer was then able to close at the halfway point.

Krimes then again had to go low to lap a car in turns three and four as did Rahmer while still keeping pace with the leader with eight laps to go.

Rahmer tried the low side in turns three and four on lap 18 and apparently liked what he found in the low groove because at the other end of the track on lap 19 he ducked low on Krimes entering turn one and slid in front of him to take the lead.

Once in front, Rahmer quickly pulled away to a comfortable advantage and was firmly in control when a two-car tangle on the frontstretch between Anthony Macri and Robbie Kendall as they raced for position inside the top 10 brought out the red flag.

Due to the severity of the accident, which resulted in the death of a spectator, the race was called official with 23 laps complete and Rahmer was declared the winner over Krimes, Haas, Brian Montieth and Moody.

The 25-lap 358 sprint feature was postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date.

The finish:

1. Freddie Rahmer, 2. Alan Krimes, 3. Cory Haas, 4. Brian Montieth, 5. Kyle Moody, 6. Chad Trout, 7. Rodney Westhafer, 8. Jeff Halligan, 9. Kody Lehman, 10. T.J. Stutts, 11. Robbie Kendall, 12. Anthony Macri, 13. Rick Lafferty, 14. Kyle Abrahims, 15. Barry Shearer, 16. Jordan Givler, 17. Troy Fraker, 18. Danny Dietrich, 19. Adrian Shaffer, 20. Chris Arnold

JONESTOWN, Pa. — Zeb Wise won his second USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Championship feature in three nights Friday at Linda’s Speedway.

The 16-year-old Indiana driver made a late pass of teammate Tyler Courtney to land his Clauson-Marshall Racing ride in victory lane.

“Pennsylvania’s been really nice to me,” Wise exclaimed. “Tonight was a really good night. We qualified a little badly and weren’t sure where we were going to end up. These little bullrings are kind of my forte and we got it done.”

Wise had his work cut out for him, lining up eighth on the grid for the 30-lap main event. Early on, however, Tanner Thorson appeared to be the class of the field, racing from the outside of the front row to gain a half-straightaway lead by lap five over leading series Rookie contender and Pennsylvania native Andrew Layser, who started fourth.

On the eighth lap, pole sitter Kevin Thomas Jr. reemerged into contention, exchanging sliders on both ends of the racetrack with Layser for the runner-up spot until Layser slid sideways to a stop between the middle of turns three and four to bring out the first yellow of the night.

When racing resumed, Thomas was on the hunt to run down Thorson as he sought his first series win since a last-lap Kokomo Grand Prix triumph in April. Thomas made gains through the middle to pull side-by-side with Thorson for the race lead nearing the midway point.

As the pair came off turn four wheel-to-wheel and headed for the crossed flags signaling the midway point, Thorson’s right rear tire went flat before coming to a halt in turn one. Thorson ran three more laps before pulling in, taking an 18th place result.

Thorson’s misfortune was to the benefit of Thomas who now occupied the lead as well as series point leader Tyler Courtney who now slotted into second. From the get-go at the start of the second half of the event, Thomas took the high road as Courtney clamped down on the bottom.

Both remained even throughout the corners on both ends of the quarter-mile dirt oval, but Thomas had enough momentum in his back pocket to blitz by Courtney to lead by a half car length at the stripe on laps 17 and 18.

The two stuck to their guns on the following laps, but Courtney was able to get a better pull off the exit of turn two to charge into turns three and four with just enough gusto to nip Courtney at the line.  The song remained the same on laps 21 and 22 as the two battled side by side on each entire lap with Courtney slowly able to gain bits and pieces of ground to distance himself from Thomas, finally grabbing some semblance of breathing room on lap 24 by three car lengths.

Just further back, third-running Wise was playing the role of a keen observer, watching his competition, then adjusting his plan of attack to see how it would play out in the ensuing laps.

“For the longest time, I was just up ripping the top,” Wise recalled. “On that last restart, Sunshine started working the bottom under KT and I saw it working. I figured it was just going to get better and better as the top went away. So, I dropped down there and felt it out for a few laps.”

With a mere five laps remaining, Wise, who had been running third since the halfway mark, began a sudden surge on the bottom, first by the rim-riding Thomas on the 26th lap, then had CMR teammate and race leader Courtney next in the pecking order.

Two laps were left on the board and Wise was closing on Courtney. Entering turn three, the two encountered the lapped car of Bruce Buckwalter Jr. on the bottom. Courtney took a quick scan and opted to go to the top to maneuver around the outside while Wise followed Buckwalter down low and crossed under the white flag a car length ahead of Courtney.

With a slower car firmly planted on the path he intended to pursue, Wise still knew he needed a little luck to fall his way despite carrying the lead into the first turn.

“Once I got by KT and as the laps wound down, we got to a few more lapped cars,” Wise remembered. “When Sunshine made the decision to go to the top on the last lap, I decided to stick the bottom and pray that the lapped car would miss the bottom just a little bit. He did. Into one, he missed it just a little bit, so I shoved my nose in there.”

For Wise, it worked out to perfection as he pulled out to a four-car length lead entering the bottom of turn three.  Second-running Courtney re-entered the bottom line, but this time, he was staring at the back of Wise who sprinted off the final corner to win by 0.537 seconds.

Courtney, who earlier set quick time and won his heat, just barely missed his opportunity at picking up the night’s sweep. He finished in the runner-up position for the second time during Pennsylvania Midget Week ahead of Thomas, Chris Windom and Jason McDougal, who rounded out the top five.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – A spectator was killed on Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway when a sprint car flipped into the infield.

Anthony Macri and Robbie Kendall were racing for position late in the 410 sprint car feature when the two collided on the frontstretch.

According to reports, the resulting incident sent Kendall’s car flipping over the infield fence, where it struck 67-year-old Richard Speck, who was sitting in the back of his pickup truck along the fence line.

The remainder of the racing card was immediately canceled for the evening and Freddie Rahmer was declared the winner of the 410 sprint car feature as law enforcement and medical personnel were called to the scene.

Speck was pronounced dead at the scene according to the Cumberland County Coroner.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Four-time Australian World Series Sprintcars titlist James McFadden won a barnburner on Iowa Corn Districts 5 and 9 Night No. 2 of the MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank Friday night at Knoxville Raceway.

McFadden took home $3,000 for his first career win at Knoxville, as well as with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing No. 9m. He also locked himself into Saturday night’s main event pole position alongside Joey Saldana.

Blake Hahn brushed the turn one wall after the green flag waved, bringing out the caution.  Davey Heskin led the field when the green fell again, ahead of Harli White, Brian Brown, Colby Copeland and Gio Scelzi.  Scelzi moved into fourth on the second lap, followed by McFadden.

Brown reeled in White for second, and he and Scelzi shot by for second and third on lap nine. The leaders were in lapped traffic by the tenth circuit, and McFadden used the bottom to gain fourth.

The next five laps saw racing for the lead.  With five laps to go, a blanket could be thrown over Heskin, Brown and Scelzi. On the 17th lap, Brown moved into the lead, with McFadden shooting under Scelzi on the backstretch.

Scelzi gained momentum again heading into three and hopped the left rear of McFadden’s car, sending him careening into the wall. The caution negated Brown’s pass for the lead, so Heskin led Brown, McFadden, Paul McMahan and Saldana back to green.

A three-car battle for the lead commenced on the restart, with McFadden battling to the fore heading into turn three. Brown moved into the runner-up spot, while Saldana advanced to fourth. Saldana gained third from Heskin with two to go.

Austin McCarl, who started 14th, came on strong late in the event, advancing as far as third, but Saldana got back by him at the line.  McFadden’s win came ahead of Brown, Saldana, Austin McCarl and Heskin.

Saldana set quick time over the field.

“We stuck to the bottom there, and tried to roll it as good as we could,” said McFadden. “(Heskin) kind of missed the bottom there, and it was enough to get by him. We’ve struggled here at Knoxville the last couple of weeks, so it’s good to get a win. It’s a big confidence booster going into tomorrow night. I came off the bottom and had a big push (when he passed Gio). I about ran into (Heskin), and I felt a nudge. I didn’t know if it was my fault. I apologize to Gio if it was my fault. I didn’t feel like I could see him, so I’m not sure.”

“I just kind of guessed wrong there on the last restart,” said Brown. “I didn’t want to see the yellow, because I had gotten by Davey. I just guessed wrong. I was going to go where Davey didn’t, but he blocked enough of the bottom and kind of shut my line down there. I tried to get around the outside, but James what he needed to do and stuck the bottom like a champion. He’s a heck of wheelman.”

“The driver didn’t show up until the end,” said Saldana. “The car had really good speed.  I was just making mistakes. You can’t make mistakes. You have to be perfect. Luckily, we had that restart at the end, and I hit the bottom. I almost gave third away. Hopefully, I can learn from tonight and be a little better tomorrow.”

The finish:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. James McFadden (7); 2. Brian Brown (5); 3. Joey Saldana (8); 4. Austin McCarl (14); 5. Davey Heskin (2); 6. Paul McMahan (6); 7. Clint Garner (18); 8. Matt Juhl (22); 9. Colby Copeland (4); 10. Terry McCarl (9); 11. Harli White (1); 12. Josh Baughman (17); 13. Jon Agan (10); 14. Jason Solwold (13); 15. Blake Hahn (12); 16. Kyle Bellm (19); 17. Roger Crockett (20); 18. Christian Bowman (11); 19. Matt Moro (24); 20. AJ Moeller (16); 21. Scott Bogucki (21); 22. Ayrton Gennetten (23); 23. Gio Scelzi (3); 24. Kaleb Johnson (15). Lap Leaders: Heskin 1-16, McFadden 17-20. Hard-charger: Juhl.

PEVELY, Mo. — Leading all 35 laps of the Night Before the Ironman feature at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 Friday night, Brad Sweet rolled into victory lane for the first time at the quarter-mile track.

It was his 12^thWorld of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory of the season.

“Pevely is a really awesome race track,” Sweet said. “I remember the first time I came here I was just in awe of the place. I’ve led a lot of laps here. I either stuff it in the fence or we got beat at the end. It’s nice to get the first one out of the way.”

Hunter Schuerenburg started on the pole after winning his Drydene Heat race and the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash and rocketed to the lead on the initial start. However, he hit the launch button too early. That forced the race to be restarted with Donny Schatz moved up to the front row and Schuerenburg moved behind him in the second row.

The front row was now Schatz and Sweet — the top two in the point standings. The two have been almost inseparable on the race track, having to race each other for position every week.

Schatz darted to the lead on the restart. Going into turn one, he chose low, while Sweet chose high.

The Toco Warranty No. 15 car slid up the track exiting turn two, allowing the NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 of Sweet to charge off the high side and bolt underneath Schatz down the backstretch.

Sweet then launched his car into turn three, sliding past Schatz and up in front of him exiting turn four. Like Sweet’s corner before, Schatz had the momentum on the high side and snuck underneath Sweet for a drag race down the front straightaway. The lap went to Sweet, but only by inches.

The 10-time series champion went side-by-side with Sweet into turn one and, again, was beat by the speed Sweet could maintain running the high line. Sweet’s lead went from inches to feet to yards over the reigning champion. Schuerenburg also pulled a slide job on Schatz to take second the next lap.

Five laps into the race, the first caution came out for Joe B. Miller coming to a stop on the track. On the restart, Schuerenburg went for the lead, attempting to pull off a slide job on Sweet into the first corner. However, his dive bomb was still not enough to clear Sweet before the No. 49 charged off the turn with a head of stream around the high side.

Before being able to get into a rhythm, the caution came out again. This time for Cale Thomas landing on his side in turn four.

When the green flag flew again, Sweet wasted no time stretching his lead over Schuerenburg. Schatz found his way around the No. 11 for second-place the next lap, too.

The top three remained in their running order for the remainder of the first half of the race. Behind them, though, Logan Schuchart and Sheldon Haudenschild were making their trek to the front. By the halfway point, Schuchart found his was to fourth – from fifth — and Haudenschild fifth — from eighth.

After a caution at the halfway point, both Schuchart and Haudenschild made their way by Schuerenburg to move up a position. Haudenschild didn’t just use his run to put Schuerenburg, behind him, though. He threw a daring slider at Schuchart into turn one and made it work. With 16 laps to go, he found himself in third and closing on second-place Schatz.

With 12 laps to go, Haudenschild threw a slide job at Schatz in turns three and four, and again made it work. Schatz couldn’t make the top work as well as Sweet and Haudenschild to challenge for the position back.

“Trying to hit a little one-inch spot with your right rear… is tough to do,” Schatz said. “Obviously, Brad and Sheldon are good at that kind of stuff. Me, I try to stay in a little bit more control.”

With Schatz behind him, the Wooster, Ohio-native was now in second-place and eager to hunt down his second win of the season.

Traffic plagued Sweet’s quest for victory. The slower cars forced him to move around and break out of his rhythm to find his way around them. That allowed Haudenschild to slowly work his way toward Sweet.

Haudenschild had Sweet in sight with five laps to. But Sweet was strong every time he ran the high side, able to carry enough momentum around the track to leave a few cars lengths distance between he and the NOS Energy Drink No. 17 car.

With three laps to go Haudenschild was building a run to catch Sweet. However, before he could fully execute on it, the caution came out for Carson Macedo flipping in turn two.

On the final restart, Sweet chose the middle of the track in the first corner, trying to block a big run by Haudenschild. It worked. The Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall driver looked underneath Sweet, but couldn’t put anything together to challenge him in the remaining laps.

“I thought with the restart we would have a little bit better of a shot,” Haudenschild said. “I knew I was running out of laps there. I didn’t really care either way with the caution or not. Brad was a little bit better than us. I feel like I got by Donny at the right time to make some ground up on Brad, but just finished second.”

Sweet sped off to his first Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 win and 46th career win.

“The restarts were making me the most nervous,” Sweet said. “Didn’t know if I should be choosing the bottom or the top, you’re just real vulnerable into (turn) one there. Kind of found that line where I was driving across into one and felt a little better about the restarts. I could get to the cushion off (turn) two and as long as I could get a good run, I felt like I was pretty good on top of turns three and four.”

Rico Abreu won the companion POWRi midget feature.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

Jurgen Klopp has questioned the Premier League's start date and the effect it could have on his Liverpool players.

Liverpool's season begins on Sunday when they take on Manchester City in the Community Shield and Klopp's side have the chance to win an unprecedented amount of silverware this season as they take part in seven competitions. Following the Community Shield, Liverpool begin their Premier League campaign against Norwich on Friday before facing Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup five days later on Aug. 14.

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The Premier League, along with Ligue 1, is the first major domestic top-flight to start its season next weekend, with the German Bundesliga kicking off on Aug. 16, La Liga on Aug. 17 and Serie A a week later.

"I don't know why we start that early," said Klopp, whose side could win the Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup, Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup this season.

Klopp also highlighted the workload of his players after a FIFPro report said the health of some top players is "at risk" and recommended "mandatory offseason breaks of four weeks."

This summer several Liverpool players have competed in international competitions with Sadio Mane part of the Senegal squad that finished runners-up in the Africa Cup of Nations on July 19 and Alisson winning the Copa America with Brazil on July 7.

"I spoke to [Napoli manager] Carlo Ancelotti," Klopp added. "Italy has 20 teams as well [like the Premier League] and starts its season on Aug. 24.

"Kalidou Koulibaly played with Sadio at the African Cup of Nations. He has four weeks' holiday and is not even close to coming back.

"I don't know why we start that early. The Premier League is such a wonderful product. It doesn't make sense.

"I love football. From my point of view we can play each week but somebody has to think about the players and nobody is doing it.

"From time to time I start a discussion but then it's like 'he's looking for excuses.' I don't, especially not for me, but we have to think about these things and nobody, especially in England, is thinking about it.

"The clubs want us to go on tours. With who? We can't go alone. These are the situations."

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has called Harry Maguire a "special player" they do not want to lose but said they have no choice after Manchester United met their valuation.

On Friday, United agreed an £80 million deal with Leicester to sign the 26-year-old England international and Maguire is expected to agree personal terms and complete a medical over the weekend.

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"The clubs have agreed [a fee] and there's still some work for it to go through. There's still a bit to go in terms of Harry's medical and whatever personal things to sort out, but it is what it is," Rodgers said after Leicester's 2-1 win over Atalanta in a preseason friendly on Friday.

The deal would make Maguire the most expensive defender in the world, surpassing the £75m Liverpool paid Southampton for Virgil van Dijk last year.

"I think it's an incredible piece of business," he added "This is a guy [Maguire] that knows there has been interest all through the summer and he's been super professional. He's been with his teammates right the way through and been a really, really good guy.

"He's a special player, he's not a player that we would want to lose. But obviously any player will have a valuation and if ever that is met then of course there's a discussion between clubs and whether the player wants to stay or go."

Last year Maguire, who helped England reach the World Cup semifinals, signed a contract extension at Leicester until 2023. He played 31 league games last term, scoring three goals.

PASADENA, Calif. -- Alex Morgan won't be on the field when the United States women's national team plays Ireland on Saturday in its first game since winning the World Cup. But the American co-captain plans to be there in 2023, chasing an unprecedented third title.

"For me, I want another World Cup," Morgan said when asked about options beyond the field. "[Life after soccer is] not super soon. Four more years!"

Morgan talked about her future in the fourth and final episode of her ESPN+ series Alex Morgan: The Equalizer, which is currently streaming exclusively on ESPN.com and the ESPN App.

No women's player has won three World Cups, although Morgan will likely have some company among U.S. holdovers from the 2015 and 2019 teams in 2023.

The Silver Boot winner in the most recent World Cup, Morgan matched teammate Megan Rapinoe for the tournament lead with six goals (ceding the Golden Boot to Rapinoe on a tiebreaker). But the last of those goals came in a semifinal win against England on her 30th birthday. That left at least some degree of ambiguity about the future for a player who has already played in three World Cups and absorbed a significant amount of physical punishment from opposing defenses intent on slowing down the U.S. by slowing down its center forward.

Morgan will turn 34 in 2023. That is the same birthday Rapinoe celebrated during this year's tournament, en route to winning the Golden Ball as the most outstanding player. And it's roughly one year older than Carli Lloyd and Japan's Homare Sawa were when they won the same award in the 2015 and 2011 World Cups, respectively.

Earlier this year, Morgan became the seventh American woman to score 100 career international goals and the third youngest after Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach. She is tied with Michelle Akers for fifth in U.S. history with 107 goals. Scoring 78 more goals to pass Wambach as the all-time leading American goal scorer will be a challenge -- with Canada's Christine Sinclair likely to soon pass Wambach and put the overall record out of reach -- but Morgan is 52 goals from passing Hamm for sole possession of second, an attainable total for a four-year stretch.

Morgan won't play Saturday because of what U.S. coach Jill Ellis said was discretion with a minor undisclosed injury from the World Cup, but the forward looked close to game form as she ran on the Rose Bowl field during practice. She will soon return for the NWSL's Orlando Pride. And it sounds like she will be around the U.S. lineup for quite some time.

"I just look at continuing to play on top of my game [and] bring home more medals," Morgan said. "There's really no end point in sight. I feel like I'm still pretty young and have a lot more to offer."