Karim Darwish maintains his grip on the world number one ranking – and still heads a trio of fellow Egyptians in the top four of the Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, according to the new July list published today (Thursday) by the Professional Squash Association.

The 27-year-old from Cairo moves into his seventh month at the top of the world, ahead of Frenchman Gregory Gaultier who holds onto his career-best position of number two.

Ramy Ashour, the 21-year-old World Open champion from Cairo, is in third place - with former world number one and three-time world champion Amr Shabana at No4.

Frenchman Thierry Lincou, the highest-ranked player in action on the PSA World Tour in June, celebrated his return to the Indian Ocean island of his birth when he won the Internationaux de la Reunion on Reunion Island, thereby strengthening his hold on eighth place in the world rankings.

The highest riser in the new top 20 is Laurens Jan Anjema, the Dutchman who leaps three places to No15 after reaching the 3-star Reunion Island event final.

But Egyptian teenager Mohamed El Shorbagy is the only player to record a career-high ranking in the top 20 – moving up two places to a best-ever No17.  

The Pakistan 'pecking order' also changes in the new list as Farhan Mehboob, a 20-year-old from Peshawar, overtakes his cousin Aamir Atlas Khan to claim 18th position – thus becoming the country's highest-ranked player.

July top 20 (inc. points average):

1    [1]    Karim Darwish    EGY    1079
2    [2]    Gregory Gaultier    FRA    873
3    [3]    Ramy Ashour    EGY    741
4    [4]    Amr Shabana    EGY    735
5    [5]    Nick Matthew    ENG    667
6    [6]    David Palmer    AUS    576
7    [7]    Peter Barker    ENG    487
8    [8]    Thierry Lincou    FRA    473
9    [9]    Wael El Hindi    EGY    431
10    [10]    Adrian Grant    ENG    417
11    [11]    Borja Golan    ESP    385
12    [12]    James Willstrop    ENG    374
13    [13]    Mohd Azlan Iskandar    MAS    314
14    [14]    Ong Beng Hee    MAS    296
15    [18]    Laurens Jan Anjema    NED    283
16    [17]    Alister Walker    ENG    274
17    [19]    Mohamed El Shorbagy    EGY    254
18    [16]    Farhan Mehboob    PAK    251
19    [15]    Aamir Atlas Khan    PAK    251
20    [20]    Stewart Boswell    AUS    240

For full list – see www.psa-squash.com