Squash Set To Light Up World Games In Poland

A number of the PSA World Tour’s leading players will be in action at the World Games this week in Wroclaw, Poland, with squash set to light up the the event between July 25-28.

Squash will be making its fifth appearance in the World Games, the multi-sport event for non-Olympic programme sports, and will take place at the 33-court Hasta la Vista club – the world’s largest squash club.

Malaysia’s eight-time world champion Nicol David is bidding to win a record fourth gold medal in the women’s event after previous triumphs in in the 2005 Games in Duisburg, Germany, then the 2009 event in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei, before retaining the title in the Cali Games in 2013.

The 33-year-old from Penang, who topped the PSA World Rankings for an unprecedented nine-year period between 2006-2015, is the No.2 seed and is expected to meet top seed and World No.3 Camille Serme in the final – where Serme will look to claim her first ever win over the Malaysian superstar.

A lower back injury has caused Hong Kong’s Annie Au to withdraw from the women’s event.

Her place as a 3/4 seed has been taken by England’s Millie Tomlinson, while Belgium’s Nele Gilis is elevated to a 5/8 seed and Australian Jessica Turnbull allocated a 9/16 seeding – with Dutch player Milou van der Heijden benefitting from a first round bye.

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World No.11 Simon Rösner is seeded to become the first German gold medallist in the men’s event after finishing as runner-up in the 2013 championship in Cali, Colombia.

The 29-year-old from Paderborn – who lost out to Gregory Gaultier in the 2013 final – is seeded to meet second seed Max Lee from Hong Kong in the title decider.

The 2017 Games has attracted squash players from 27 nations.

Draw – First Round: 2017 Men’s World Games
[1] Simon Rösner (GER) v Wojciech Nowisz (POL)
[9/16] Rhys Dowling (AUS) v Daniel Mekbib (CZE)
[9/16] Ivan Yuen (MAS) v Matias Tuomi (FIN)
[5/8] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v Vasile Hapun (ROM)
[5/8] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt Lau Ulrik Kiehn (DEN) w/o
[9/16] Douglas Kempsell (GBR) v Joe Chapman (IVB)
[9/16] Raphael Kandra (GER) v Ahmed Hany Hussein (EGY)
[3/4] Cesar Salazar (MEX) v Balázs Farkas (HUN)
[3/4] Diego Elias (PER) v Alex Eustace (AUS)
[9/16] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt Alex Pavulans (LAT) w/o
[9/16] Ben Coleman (GBR) v Yuri Farneti (ITA)
[5/8] Yip Tsz Fung (HKG) v Kostiantyn Rybalchenko (UKR)
[5/8] Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Mateusz Kotra (POL)
[9/16] Shehab Essam (EGY) v Rory Stewart (GBR)
[9/16] Joshua Masters (GBR) v Jan Koukal (CZE)
[2] Max Lee (HKG) v Alexey Severinov (RUS)

Draw – First Round: 2017 Women’s World Games
[1] Camille Serme (FRA) v Natalia Ryfa (POL)
[9/16] Alison Thomson (GBR) v Tessa ter Sluis (NED)
[9/16] Catalina Pelaez (COL) v Ineta Mackevica (LAT)
[5/8] Nadine Shahin (EGY) v Franziska Hennes (GER)
[5/8] Fiona Moverley (GBR) v Nadiia Usenko (UKR)
[9/16] Misaki Kobayashi (JPN) v Zuzana Kubáňová (CZE)
[9/16] Rachel Arnold (MAS) v Anna Serme (CZE)
[3/4] Millie Tomlinson (GBR) v Céline Walser (SUI)
[3/4] Joey Chan (HKG) v Alina Bushma (UKR)
[9/16] Milou van der Heijden (NED) bye
[9/16] Jessica Turnbull (AUS) v Lisa Aitken (GBR)
[5/8] Coline Aumard (FRA) v Csenge Kiss-Máté (HUN)
[5/8] Nele Gilis (BEL) v Magda Kamińska (POL)
[9/16] Tamika Saxby (AUS) v Sina Kandra (GER)
[9/16] Samantha Teran (MEX) v Cristina Gomez (ESP)
[2] Nicol David (MAS) v Irina Beliaeva (RUS)