KUWAIT CITY, Nov 28: World champion Nick Matthew’s season may be over after he pulled out of the quarter-finals of the $165,000 Kuwait PSA Cup with an adductor muscle injury on Sunday.

The 31-year-old Englishman hopes he will recover before the last World Series tournament of 2011, the Punj Lloyd PSA Masters in Delhi in a fortnight’s time, but admitted he might not make it.

“It is possible the season is over for me. But I have a fantastic team and I hope that with the right assessment and treatment it may heal,” said Matthew, who has been troubled by the problem since before retaining the World Open title in Rotterdam three weeks ago.

His decision to allow his opponent, Karim Darwish, the former world number one from Egypt, go through to the semi-finals was taken only 10 minutes before they were due on court.

“When you have an injury you get used to emptying your mind before a match and doing your preparation exactly as usual, and so I did,” Matthew explained.

“But the muscle felt like it might snap when I lunged, and if that happened, I could be out for a long time.

“I’m very disappointed, but if I risked playing I could be kissing goodbye to a great deal more.”

Earlier, Greg Gaultier, the former world number one from France, became the first player into the semi-finals and then spoke out against the tournament’s new draw system.

In beating Stewart Boswell 8-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-5, he also brought an end to the Australian’s career, before offering opinions in characteristically forthright fashion.

Results: Quarter-finals: Gregory Gaultier (FRA x5) bt Stewart Boswell (AUS) 8-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-5; James Willstrop (ENG x3) bt Peter Barker (ENG x6)) 11-9, 11-7, 11-7; Karim Darwish (EGY x2) bt Nick Matthew (ENG x1) walkover; Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY x7) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (NED x10) 11-8 11-5, 7-11, 11-7.—AFP