Abdulla Mohamed Al Tamimi
Doha: Qatar No.1 is Adbulla Mohamed Al Tamimi has made a significant rise in the latest world rankings released by the global governing body of squash, climbing up from 34th to 30th spot. By doing so, Al Tamimi has also become the first player in the gulf region to be ranked that high.
Al Tamimi made history at the recently concluded Qterminals Qatar Classic when he became the first Qatari player to reach the last-eight stage of a Platinum level tournament after outclassing Englishman George Parker at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
On his way to the pre-quarters in the home event, Al Tamimi, then ranked 43rd, shocked World No.2 Paul Coll of New Zealand to make headlines.
Following the Doha event, Al Tamimi once again reached the pre-quarters stage, this time at the CIB Egyptian Open, where he went down fighting (3-1: 11-9, 11-4, 5-11, 11-8) to Cairo-born World No. 8 Mazen Hesham following a thrilling contest.
Meanwhile, Ali Farag, the winner of the CIB Egyptian Open, retained his position as the World No.1, followed by Coll and Mostafa Asal, in the second and third spots respectively.
Peruvian Diego Elias moved back up to a joint career-high ranking of World No.4 following his run to the semi-finals of the CIB Egyptian Open last week.
Elias bowed out at the quarter-finals at the Qatar Classic before with his first semi-final finish of the season in Egypt, where he was beaten by Coll.
The Peruvian secured wins over Sebastien Bonmalais, Declan James and Marwan ElShorbagy en route to the last four of the PSA World Tour Platinum event and that has seen him leapfrog Marwan’s older brother – Qatar Classic champion Mohamed – to return to No.4.
Egypt’s Tarek Momen is at No.6, followed by Welshman Joel Makin. Hesham and Marwan occupy the eighth and ninth spots in the latest rankings while Frenchman Victor Crouin completed the top 10.
