WORLD SQUASH NEWS Nicol Strengthens Grip on World No1 Ranking Victory in last week's Harrisdirect Tournament of Champions in New York has strengthened Englishman Peter Nicol's grip on the No1 position in the new March Dunlop PSA Men's World Rankings, announced today (03 March) by the Professional Squash Association (PSA). The 29-year-old former Scot survived four-game battles in the final three rounds of the first PSA Super Series event of the year to lift the prestigious title for the second time at Grand Central Station. In moving into his 15th consecutive month as world No1, Nicol has extended the gap ahead of arch rival Jonathon Power, the Canadian who failed to reach his sixth successive final in New York when beaten 3-1 in the semi-finals by France's Thierry Lincou. Australia's David Palmer, who suffered his first loss since winning the World Open title in December when he went down to Nicol in the New York semi-finals, holds onto the world No3 slot, while compatriot Stewart Boswell rises to a career-high-equalling No4, pushing Scotland's John White down to five, ahead of Frenchman Thierry Lincou, Tournament of Champions runner-up, who stays at No6. Former world junior champion Karim Darwish rises to a career-high world No10 to become the first Egyptian in the world top ten since Ahmed Barada in April 2001. Darwish's compatriot Amr Shabana also boasts a best-ever position in the new list, up one place to 13. Three players have attained their best-ever rankings in this month's top 40: England's Nick Matthew rises two places to 22; compatriot Adrian Grant moves up one place to 31; and another Englishman James Willstrop, the 19-year-old world junior champion, takes three steps to a career-high No38 after reaching the second round of the Tournament of Champions as a qualifier. 1 [1] Peter Nicol ENG 2 [2] Jonathon Power CAN 3 [3] David Palmer AUS 4 [5] Stewart Boswell AUS 5 [4] John White SCO 6 [6] Thierry Lincou FRA 7 [7] Anthony Ricketts AUS 8 [8] Lee Beachill ENG 9 [9] Ong Beng Hee MAS 10 [11] Karim Darwish EGY 11 [10] Martin Heath SCO 12 [13] Mark Chaloner ENG 13 [14] Amr Shabana EGY 14 [16] Joseph Kneipp AUS 15 [15] Mansoor Zaman PAK 16 [17] Alex Gough WAL 17 [12] Chris Walker ENG 18 [18] Simon Parke ENG 19 [19] Nick Taylor ENG 20 [20] Omar Elborolossy EGY