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TODAY in Delhi - previews |
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11-Dec:
No Matthew,
but Ramy's return welcomed
 The
unfortunate withdrawal of World no.1 and World champion Nick
Matthew through injury is partially offset by the return of
Ramy Ashour, hopefully now free from injury.
So if the seedings work out and no-one is saying for a moment they
will, the quarter final line-up would be:
Karim Darwish v Mohammed El Shorbagy, Gregory Gaultier
v Laurens Anjema, James Willstrop v Daryl Selby, and
Ramy Ashour v Peter Barker.
As usual the first round throws up several matches of interest, the
ones catching the eye being Hisham Ashour v Tom Richards,
Borja Golan v Adrian Grant, another instalment of the local
Malaysian derby, Ong Beng Hee v Azlan Iskandar and Saurav
Ghosal, who has just retained his national title against
Julian Illingworth.
 Should
the quarter final seedings be justified Gaultier will have to
withstand a strong challenge from the progressive Anjema, though
Anjema has Omar Mosaad in his path and El Shorbagy has found
the skills of Darwish too much for him so far.
Willstrop, fortified by his form in Kuwait and Hong Kong, certainly
looks in better current form than Selby, who will have to fend off
Simon Rosner to reach the quarters. Willstrop has the added
incentive of knowing that should he win the championship he will go
to 1 in the world.
Everyone will be happy to see Ashour back in action. He will be
fresh, but whether he has been able to prepare well enough after his
long absence remains to be seen.
Despite Matthew's absence and that of the great Amr Shabana,
struggling with motivation it seems, there is much to look forward
to in the final World Series event of 2011 in Delhi.
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09-Dec:
Matthew pulls out of Delhi
 An injury sustained in last month's
penultimate PSA World Series event of the year in Kuwait has forced
top seed Nick Matthew to withdraw from next week's Punj Lloyd
PSA Masters.
Title success in the New Delhi event a year ago led the Englishman
to the top of the world rankings in January - a position he has
retained throughout the year.
"I'm obviously massively disappointed and have done everything in my
power to get fit in time," said the 31-year-old from Sheffield, who
is nursing an adductor injury.
"However it's too much of a risk and eventually sense has prevailed.
I am going to use the extra time to come back 100% in the New Year,"
he added.
 The withdrawal could lead to Matthew losing his world number one
ranking - fellow Yorkshireman James Willstrop is enjoying the
best form of his life, and this month moved up to second place in
the rankings after back-to-back victories in the previous two PSA
World Series events, winning the Hong Kong Open and the Kuwait PSA
Cup.
Should the 28-year-old from Leeds win in Delhi, he will overtake
Matthew to become world number one for the first time in January.
Matthew's withdrawal moves Ramy Ashour to top seed and fellow
Egyptian Karim Darwish to the position of second seed. Ashour, the
previous world number one, is marking his return to action after a
hamstring injury caused his withdrawal from the World Open in
November.
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07-Dec:
Top stars all have reasons
to do well in Delhi ...
 The
final PSA World Series event of the year is the Punj Lloyd
PSA Masters in Delhi, at the Siri Fort complex in New
Delhi, which hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and last
year's Punj Lloyd event.
Each of the top seeds have reasons to want to do well:
Top seed Nick Matthew, who today celebrates a complete
year at the top of the world rankings, will be keen to do well
to make sure he starts 2012 at the top of the list, and to make
amends for early exits - by his standards - in Qatar, Hong Kong
and Kuwait either side of his world open triumph in Rotterdam.
Second seed Ramy Ashour will be quadrupally keen to do
well, having been injured or missing in all of those events, his
last fully-fit performance being back in September's ROWE
British Grand Prix, in which he beat Matthew in the final.
Karim Darwish is seeded three, but has seen his ranking slip
despite reaching the finals in both Hong Kong and Kuwait. He'll
be keen to make three finals in a row, keener still to win one.
James Willstrop is the man of the moment, having risen to
world number two on the back of back to back wins in Hong Kong
and Qatar. In his own words, " if I can produce squash like
that, I can win the next one, and Im not going to let the fact
that its three in a row get in the way!"
At five is Gregory Gaultier, who has reached the
semi-finals or better in each of the last four 'majors', but
will somehow feel disappointed not to have added to his Qatar
Classic victory.
The top five all need to look over their shoulders though, with
tricky quarter-final clashes looming if all goes to plan:
Matthew may face Mohamed El Shorbagy, who nearly beat him
in Rotterdam and made the semis in Kuwait; Only one of Gaultier
and Darwish can make the semi-finals; Willstrop faces the
prospect of British Champion Daryl Selby looking to
improve on his end-of-season form; Ashour, if fit, won't relish
taking on the consistent and persistent Peter Barker, the
sixth seed, who knows a decent run will see him absolutely sure
of a place in January's World Series Finals.
The draw is notable for the absence of two former world number
ones and world champions: Amr Shabana sits this one after
disappointment in Kuwait; Thierry Lincou is resting after
a punishing autumn for all the players, especially a
35-year-old; and of course Stewart Boswell who called it
a day in Kuwait is also missing.
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