Qatar's Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi to face Honkong's Henry Leung in British Open opener

 Qatar's Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi to face Honkong's Henry Leung in British Open opener

Qatar's Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi will face Honkong's Henry Leung in the opening round match of the British Open.

World No.17 Al Tamimi who turned professional in 2011, broke into the world’s top 20 for the first time eleven years later will face LEUNG who is palced 30 places below him on the PSA ranking computer.

Three-time British Open champion Mohamed ElShorbagy will compete at the ‘Wimbledon of Squash’ as an English player for the first time between April 9-16 when the prestigious PSA World Tour Platinum event returns to Birmingham.

ElShorbagy – a former World No.1 and World Champion who won the British Open in 2015, 2016 and 2019 – switched allegiance to England from Egypt last June and will now line up at the iconic tournament as England No.1 for the first time and will be seeded fifth.

The British Open has moved back to Birmingham for the first time since 2001 and will take place at the spectacular Birmingham Rep from round three onwards, with the opening two rounds being staged at the Edgbaston Priory Club. ElShorbagy is one of six former champions returning to compete for their share of the $358,000 prize pot, which is split equally between the male and female draws.

Headlining the men’s draw is World No.1 and top seed Mostafa Asal, with the 21-year-old Egyptian – who in January became the third youngest man in squash history to reach World No.1 – set to play the winner of an all-Egyptian battle between Karim El Hammamy and Omar Mosaad in round two.

Should the tournament go to seedings, he will face the in-form Diego Elias in the final, with the Peruvian No.2 seed set to play Wales’ Joel Makin in the second round.

Also among the players tipped for the title are Egyptian No.3 seed Ali Farag and New Zealand’s No.4 seed Paul Coll.

Coll, winner of the last two editions of the British Open, plays either Curtis Malik or Eain Yow Ng in round two as he bids to make it a hat-trick of British Open titles.

Reigning World Champion Farag, who is targeting a first British Open title after finishing runner-up in his last three attempts, will play the winner of the first round match between Leonel Cardenas and Balazs Farkas.

Should ElShorbagy and Makin fall, the hopes of a home winner in the men’s draw will fall upon Scotland’s Greg Lobban, or Patrick Rooney, Adrian Waller, George Parker, Nathan Lake, Nick Wall, three-time runner-up James Willstrop, and wildcards Curtis Malik and Sam Todd of England.

2023 British Open: Men’s Draw

[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) [Bye]

Karim El Hammamy (EGY) v [17/32] Omar Mosaad (EGY)

[17/32] Shahjahan Khan (USA) v Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP)

Adrian Waller (ENG) v [17/32] Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY)

[17/32] Patrick Rooney (ENG) v Todd Harrity (USA)

Henry Leung (HKG) v [17/32] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT)

[17/32] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Cesar Salazar (MEX)

[7] Tarek Momen (EGY) [Bye]

[8] Mazen Hesham (EGY) [Bye]

Ramit Tandon (IND) v [17/32] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA)

[17/32] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) v James Willstrop (ENG)

[9/16] Gregoire Marche (FRA) [Bye]

[9/16] Victor Crouin (FRA) [Bye]

[9/16] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) [Bye]

[17/32] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) v Balazs Farkas (HUN)

[3] Ali Farag (EGY) [Bye]

[4] Paul Coll (NZL) v [Bye]

[WC] Curtis Malik (ENG) v [17/32] Eain Yow Ng (MAS)

17/32] Saurav Ghosal (IND) v Yahya Elnawasany (EGY)

[9/16] Fares Dessouky (EGY) [Bye]

[9/16] Youssef Soliman (EGY) [Bye]

George Parker (ENG) v [17/32] Greg Lobban (SCO)

[17/32] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) v Lucas Serme (FRA)

[6] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) [Bye]

[5] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) [Bye]

[WC] Sam Todd (ENG) v [17/32] Raphael Kandra (GER)

[9/16] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) [Bye]

[9/16] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) [Bye]

[17/32] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) v Nathan Lake (ENG)

Nick Wall (ENG) v [17/32] Auguste Dussourd (FRA)

[9/16] Joel Makin (WAL) [Bye]

[2] Diego Elias (PER) [Bye]