August 31, 2003	Sunday	Rajab 2, 1424

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KARACHI, Aug 30: Mansoor Zaman and several other Pakistani players have improved their positions in the latest international rankings announced by the Professional Squash Association (PSA) on Saturday.

Pakistan No. 1 Mansoor Zaman jumped three places up to No. 15 in the latest list. His younger cousins Shahid Zaman and Farrukh Zaman also climbed up the ladder.

Shahid, in spite of a poor show in this month’s CAS Open International Championship in Peshawar in which he lost in the first round, has gone one place up to No. 34 in the rankings.

Peshawar’s Farrukh moves three places up to No. 41 while Arshad Iqbal Burki climbs to 64 from 68.

Meanwhile, despite claiming his second successive PSA Tour victory in the inaugural Prince English Open Championship earlier this month, Scotland’s John White has failed to dislodge England’s Peter Nicol from the No1 position in the new rankings.

World No3 White has narrowed the gap, however, behind Australia’s World Champion David Palmer, who reached the semifinals in Sheffield in his first PSA Tour event since appendix surgery in March. Nicol extended his unbroken reign at the top of the rankings to 21 months.

Canada’s Jonathon Power, runner-up to White in Sheffield, remains at No4, ahead of Frenchman Thierry Lincou at five and Australia’s Stewart Boswell at six.

Anthony Ricketts, the young Australian whose Sheffield victory over Peter Nicol was his first in seven meetings over the past year, strengthens his hold on the No7 position. Malaysia’s Ong Beng Hee, also an English Open quarterfinalist, moves up one place to No8.

Success last week in the CAS International has taken France’s Gregory Gaultier to a career-high 13 in the new list.

Gaultier, at 20 the youngest player in the world top twenty, already boasts six PSA Tour titles from nine final appearances.

In the women’s rankings, Carol Owens retains her No1 position announced by the Women’s International Squash Players’ Association. England’s Cassie Jackman rises three places to six to become the second-highest English woman in the new list.

Jackman, the 30-year-old former world champion from Norfolk, clinched her fourth WISPA World Tour title this year when she won the Mulpha-Head Malaysian Open this month in her fourth appearance in the final.

The former World No1 is fighting back to the top of her game since undergoing spinal surgery for the second time in her career less than a year ago.

The top five behind Owens remains unchanged, with USA’s Natalie Grainger at two, and Australia’s Rachael Grinham, England’s Linda Charman and seven-times Dutch champion Vanessa Atkinson occupying the positions three, four and five, respectively.

Following are the top ten world rankings:

Men: Peter Nicol; David Palmer; John White; Jonathon Power; Thierry Lincou; Stewart Boswell; Anthony Ricketts; Ong Beng Hee; Karim Darwish; Lee Beachill

Women: Carol Owens; Natalie Pohrer; Rachael Grinham; Linda Charman; Vanessa Atkinson; Cassie Jackman; Tania Bailey; Natalie Grinham; Rebecca Macree; Jenny Tranfield.—PPI