Another player who is well used to English conditions is Marwan Elshorbagy, the fourth seed from Alexandria, who spent many of his formative years - in squash and education - in England at Millfield School and Bristol University.

It was around the time of tlast year's tournament at St George's that Marwan, a double world junior champion just like elder brother Mohamed, broke into the world's top ten, and he's now knocking on the door of the top five.



2016 has been a busy, but good year for Marwan, making the quarter-finals of the Windy City, British Open, El Gouna,  US Open and Qatar Classic World Series events, with victories in the Grasshopper Cup and Houston Open along the way.

Marwan faces last year's Champion Chris Simpson in the first round, and although there's a considerable difference in their rankings, the Head to Head count stands at two-all.

"I'm looking forward to playing my last PSA tournament of the year at St George's," says Marwan.

"I have heard Danny and his team do a great job and the fact that my main sponsor Channel Vas is sponsoring the event will give me a huge push to do well in the tournament and hopefully finish the year on a high.

"Bassim Haidar has raised the prize money from 25k to 100k making it the second biggest tournament in Europe, so it's always great to see people like him that are so keen in the sport."

Marwan Elshorbagy

Age:  23                  Birthplace:  Alexandria

Current WR:    6      Highest WR: 6

PSA Events:   92     PSA Finals: 13     PSA titles:  6

PSA Matches: 222     PSA Wins:  137