Egyptians take Toronto as Brits stay home

The scheduling of the Pace Canadian Squash Classic a month later than usual - thereby clashing with the British Nationals - robbed its draw of the top English players ...

But their absence only served to throw into relief for the north American audience what many others around the word know - that Egypt is becoming the dominant force in men's squash.

With the Australian threat of David Palmer and Stewart Boswell seen off in earlier rounds, the Egyptians greedily kept the semi-finals all to themselves, with Shabana, Ashour, Darwish and El Hindi enjoying the success in depth that didn't quite pay dividends at last year's World Teams.

The final saw Ramy Ashour retain his title against a "not really there" Shabana in just 38 minutes.

I had hoped to finally get to see the top English players take on the top Egyptians, in England, at Canary Wharf, though only Mohammed Abbas from Egypt is confirmed to play.

Pace Canadian Squash Classic