Diego Elías: the reasons that would lead the Peruvian to be the leader of the Squash ranking

Diego Elías brings us closer every day to having a Peruvian athlete as the number 1 in the world in his discipline. The second-placed squash player is looking to climb to the top of the rankings at the Optasia Championship in London this week. The Peruvian debuts this afternoon (2:30 pm) against the Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawal.

As is known, Diego Elías has already had two opportunities to climb to the top of the world ranking. At the Black Ball in Egypt he lost in the semifinals when he had to win the tournament to be number 1. Then, at Canary Wharf in London he lost in the first round. Now at Optasia he is looking for a new chance.

And this time the door has been opened more to the Peruvian. The Professional Squash Association (PSA) announced last Monday the six-week ban on the ranking leader Mostafa Asal, so he will not be able to compete in this tournament or the British Open.

Due to violations of codes of conduct in the past Black Ball, the PSA decided to sanction him with six weeks out of the fields to be fulfilled immediately until May 1.

This has changed the tables of the Optasia Open, where Diego Elías has become the second seed. The Peruvian debuts this Wednesday in the tournament with the winner of the duel between the Egyptians Omar Mosaad (30 PSA) and Karim Abdel Gawad (38 PSA).

With this, Asal will not be able to score points in the Optasia Championship, while Diego Elías defends the 1,150 points of having played in last year’s final. With this, we contact Diego Elías’ team to see if this can be used by the Peruvian to climb to first place.

“You have to hope that Mohamed ElShorbagy doesn’t win,” they told us at first. The Egyptian occupies box 3 of the ranking at the moment. But then the outlook cleared up to present more options for Diego Elías.

The World Squash Ranking Forecast portal made its calculations to define who could be the new number 1 in the world and Diego Elías has several options in the draw.

Diego Elías is 1 if…

• – Win the tournament
• – He is second, but Mohamed El Shorbagy is not the champion
• – ElShorbagy falls in the semifinals or before

Meanwhile, the Egyptian can recover the number one in the world. ElShorbagy won the Black Ball, which allowed him to regain ground in the ranking and now points to the lead.

ElShorbagy is 1 if…

• – Win the tournament
• – He is runner-up and Diego Elías does not reach the final

There is a curious case that can occur. Diego Elías and Mohamed ElShorbagy can tie in points at the top of the ranking if both reach the final and the Peruvian wins that definition. In that case, they share the top of the ranking, which is due to be updated on March 27.

Being in different tables, Elías and ElShorbagy cannot cross each other until the final. In Diego’s path is Marwan ElShorbagy, Mohamed’s brother, while Ali Farag is in the path of the Egyptian, today number 6 in the world.

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