Shabana Seeded To Win       
First Dunlop British Open Title

Amr Shabana, who has become Egypt's most successful squash player of all-time after topping the world rankings and twice becoming World Champion, is seeded to win the one major title that has hitherto eluded him when he appears in the 2006 Dunlop British Open Squash Championships at the University of Nottingham from 15-18 September, a win that would make Shabana the first Egyptian British Open champion for 40 years!

Shabana will face tough opposition in the first round when he meets Scotland's John White, the former world number one who was based in Nottingham - where he trained at the University - until last year. The hard-hitting Scot, the runner-up in 2002 who now lives in the USA, will be making his ninth successive appearance in the event.

Favourite Shabana is expected to meet three-times champion David Palmer in the 2006 final on the all-glass cout erected for the first time at the University of Nottingham. The world No2 from Australia - champion in 2001, 2003 and 2004 – is drawn to face wild card player Chris Simpson, the British Junior Champion from Guernsey who will be making his debut in the world’s most prestigious event which was introduced in the early 1920s.

But Palmer is expected to face a tough all-Australian battle in the quarter-finals where is due to take on defending champion Anthony Ricketts. The world No5 from Sydney made his breakthrough on the international circuit last year in Manchester where he fought through the high-quality 2005 Dunlop British Open field to become only the second Australian to lift the men's trophy since the legendary seven-times champion Geoff Hunt in the early 1980s. Fifth seed Ricketts meets a qualifier in the first round.

Home interest in the 2006 men's championship will be led by Yorkshire's James Willstrop, the 23-year-old former World Junior Champion from Pontefract who led England to success in the World Team Championships in Pakistan last year. The fourth seed, who battled through to his maiden British Open final last year, begins his 2006 campaign against Malaysia's rising star Mohd Azlan Iskandar, the world No12 from Sarawak.

Scoreboard Editor