Tarek hopes for third time lucky in London
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

World Champion Tarek Momen has been handed a tricky second round tie against either the in-form Joel Makin or local favourite Daryl Selby after the draw for the St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic – taking place from March 8-13 in London’s iconic East Wintergarden – was released today.

Momen has finished as runner-up at this tournament on two occasions, first to World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy in 2018 and then to New Zealand’s Paul Coll last year.

However, the World No.3 avenged that defeat to Coll in November 2019 as he got his hands on the biggest trophy in men’s squash – the PSA World Championship – and he will look to make it third time lucky this time around at the PSA World Tour Gold tournament.

Momen is predicted to come up against World No.11 Makin in round two and will need to end a two-match losing streak to the Welshman after defeats in November’s CIB Egyptian Squash Open and in December’s WSF Men’s World Team Squash Championship.

The winner of that match is seeded to play the dangerous World No.7 Diego Elias in the quarter-finals, while ElShorbagy could lie in wait in the semi-finals.

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The bottom half of the draw sees World No.2 Ali Farag pitted against the winner of an all-English battle between Adrian Waller and Declan James.

He will need to come through a field that contains former World No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad, 2017 World Championship runner-up Marwan ElShorbagy and 2018-19 PSA World Tour Finals runner-up Mohamed Abouelghar if he is to reach a first Canary Wharf Classic final.

There are six Englishman involved in the draw, with three-time World No.1 James Willstrop taking on tournament wildcard Richie Fallows in round one, while Tom Richards lines up against Saurav Ghosal of India.

“The draw has thrown up some blockbuster matches right from day one, with the world’s best set to go head-to-head in front of a packed house at East Wintergarden,” said Tournament Director Tim Garner.

“The Canary Wharf Classic spectators are among the most knowledgable and passionate on the PSA World Tour, and the East Wintergarden is transformed into a cauldron of noise whenever these top-class athletes do battle on court.

“With a plethora of current and former World Champions and World No.1s in attendance, I expect this year to be no different and I’m looking forward to watching the drama unfold next month.”

The Canary Wharf Classic will use a best-of-three games scoring format up to and including the quarter-finals for a third year in succession. The semi-finals and final will revert to traditional best-of-five scoring.

All of the action from East Wintergarden will be streamed live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and the official PSA World Tour Facebook page (excluding Europe & Japan), while the semi-finals and final will also be shown live on multiple mainstream broadcasters around the globe.

2020 St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic, East Wintergarden, Bank Street, Canary Wharf, London, March 8-13.

PSA Men’s Gold First Round Draw:
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) [bye]
Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v [9/16] Gregoire Marche (FRA)
[9/16] Saurav Ghosal (IND) v Tom Richards (ENG)
[5] Simon Rösner (GER) [bye]
[6] Diego Elias (PER) [bye]
[WC] Richie Fallows (ENG) v [9/16] James Willstrop (ENG)
[9/16] Joel Makin (WAL) v Daryl Selby (ENG)
[3] Tarek Momen (EGY) [bye]
[4] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) [bye]
Greg Lobban (SCO) v [9/16] Mazen Hesham (EGY)
[9/16] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v Eain Yow Ng (MAS)
[7] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) [bye]
[8] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) [bye]
Raphael Kandra (GER) v [9/16] Fares Dessouky (EGY)
[9/16] Adrian Waller (ENG) v Declan James (ENG)
[2] Ali Farag (EGY) [bye]

Pictures courtesy of PSA

Scotland scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne will move to Premiership leaders Exeter in the summer from French side Lyon.

The 26-year-old has agreed a two-year contract at Sandy Park and will replace Australia half-back Nic White, who is returning to his homeland having played for the Wallabies at the World Cup.

He is Exeter's second Scottish signing after Jonny Gray agreed to move to Devon in the summer from Glasgow.

He will join Scotland captain Stuart Hogg, who is already at Exeter.

"Like a lot of people, I've watched how the Chiefs have done and how successful the club have become over the last few years," he told the club website.

"They are one of the great teams, not just in England, but across Europe, and it will be great to be part of their set-up."

Having begun his career at Edinburgh, Hidalgo-Clyne moved to Scarlets in 2018, but left last summer after a spell on loan at Harlequins.

He initially joined Racing 92 as World Cup cover last summer before a short-term contract with the Top 14 high-fliers.

The scrum-half, who has won 12 caps for Scotland and was part of his country's 2015 World Cup squad, says Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter impressed him with his vision for the side.

He said: "I chatted in detail with Rob and he outlined how he wants the team to play, the aspirations of the club, and what he would expect from me.

"I liked what he had to say and in the end it was a pretty easy decision for me.

"Obviously, they have a quality squad already assembled there and with guys like Jonny coming in as well, it's only going to get better.

"I've played a lot with Jonny, not only as a youngster, but also with him and Stuart [Hogg] at international level, so it will be good to have a few friendly faces on arrival."

"They say not to play impact sports. If the magnet in my head gets dislodged I might not be able to hear again."

Jodie Ounsley is profoundly deaf. She can hear with a cochlear implant, but runs the risk of losing that ability by playing rugby.

Jodie Ounsley also dreams of the Olympics. And she refuses to let her hearing stop her getting there.

The 19-year-old became the first deaf female rugby player to be selected for an international sevens squad and won her first England cap in October 2019.

Now, she is hoping to secure a place in the Great Britain squad that will compete at the Tokyo Games this summer.

At times, Ounsley's Instagram posts from the sevens circuit look like those of a teenager travelling the world on a gap year. Paddle-boarding in a bikini in Sydney, looking out across the cityscape of Dubai at night or posing on the beach with a friend in South Africa.

But there is so much more to this impressive teenager than meets the eye.

Her journey to international rugby has not been an easy one. She jokes of times she ran the length of the pitch before she realised the whistle had been blown and speaks with maturity beyond her years about the challenges involved in integrating as the only deaf player in a team.

The Olympics may be her ultimate goal, but overcoming the many challenges she has faced has always been about much more than rugby.

"I'm really passionate about not letting hearing hold you back," she says. "Anyone who has a cochlear implant fitted, they say not to play impact sports because of the risk that the implant might get knocked in your head and you might not be able to hear again.

"That's the worst possible scenario. I found sport and it was something I was good at where my hearing didn't seem to matter.

"As I've grown, I've realised you need to go for it anyway. There's no point holding back. The last thing you want to do is live with regrets."

'My dad said no at first'

Ounsley does not remember life without her cochlear implant, having had it fitted at 14 months old. She was born prematurely and was given antibiotics which may have led to her deafness.

The prop took up rugby aged 15 and was eager to throw herself into the fold, but her dad Phil initially said no.

Given she was unwilling to let the possibility of hearing loss stop her, it was always unlikely a parent would stand in the teenager's way.

And eventually she found a solution which appeased her father.

"We spent ages looking into how to protect the implant when we came across scrum caps," she explains.

"Once he realised I could wear one he said I could try it. We never thought it would end up like this. I kept pushing him and trying to persuade him so I think he got sick of it."

Despite his early reservations, Ounsley's dad is now very supportive of her rugby career and even found out about her England contract before she did.

As she was waiting to hear if she would be part of the international set-up, Ounsley had asked her coaches to call her father instead of her because she might not be able to hear on the phone.

When her family suggested visiting her in Loughborough for a family meal, she knew something "a bit odd" was going on.

"They told my dad they wanted to offer me a contract," she explains.

"My family gave me a card and it said, "congratulations on your sevens contract". I turned to my dad and told him it was a sick joke. He told me they were being serious and I couldn't believe it. I was in complete shock. It was a really nice way to do it."

'Deaf kids look at me as a role model'

International sevens is just the latest of several sporting stages on which Ounsley has shone. She is a former British jiu-jitsu champion and has competed for Great Britain in sprinting at the Deaf Olympics.

But making the GB squad for Tokyo 2020 would eclipse all that.

"Whichever sport I was in, I've always said I wanted to go to the Olympics," she says.

"It's still my dream. There's a long way to go and I've got so much to learn but I'm going to keep working hard - you never know what will happen."

Regardless of whether she is selected for the Olympics or not, Ounsley has already made a big impact in the deaf community.

Over the past year she has started visiting deaf schools to talk to them about her sporting journey and has been left "shocked" by pupils' responses.

"I was so surprised how a lot of people in the deaf community seem scared to go for it or have self-belief to try something without letting hearing affect them," she recalls.

"Then I realised that I want to push people and say they can do it. The response at the first school I went to was amazing.

"The kids looked at me as a role model. Since then I've got attached and gone to a couple more schools and I've got three more planned - I just love it."

'I'm still working on it'

You would not know it from Ounsley's contagious positivity, but there have, of course, been challenges on the way to becoming an international rugby player.

"It's funny to look back on," she says after recounting the time a referee gave her a yellow card in a school final at Twickenham because they thought she was being rude, not knowing she could not hear.

Ounsley is continuously finding strategies to better work with her team and has told England coaches she needs to speak to them face-to-face, rather than shouting from across the pitch, so that she can lip read.

She still claims not to be a confident person, but these changes are a sign of the greater self-belief she has developed since leaving the Twickenham pitch without explaining to the referee what was really going on that day.

"If you saw me two years ago, I would never have gone up to a coach if I was struggling to hear," she says.

"Even before I was in the England Sevens programme, they knew I was deaf but there's a lot more to it.

"It's quite difficult and I'm still working on it even years later. The key thing is being honest and up-front with people, letting them know what you can and can't do and working round it."

Almeria coach Guti has offered to step down and give back all the money he has earned since taking the helm of the Spanish second division club if any evidence emerges that he went out and partied with some of his players last week.

Rumours on the social media claimed the former Real Madrid midfielder was photographed drinking and partying last week with members of the squad in a local nightclub.

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Guti, who was sent off in his team 3-2 league defeat at Huesca on Saturday, said on UD Almeria radio: "If anyone finds a photograph of me, with players or alone, in a nightclub in Almeria, I will offer my resignation and not only that, but return all the money Almeria has paid me. My conscience is clear."

Guti, 43, who never hid his love for partying during his playing career, said his focus now is on work and family.

"That tag that I had in the past has returned again but I am very calm," he said. "My conscience is clear.

"I wake up early to be with my son, go to work, come back to be with my family and I have no time for anything else."

Almeria have lost three of their last four games but are still on course to compete for promotion to La Liga as they are third in the standings, six points adrift of league leaders Cadiz after 28 games played.

Barcelona have been given the green light to make a signing outside of the transfer window after Ousmane Dembele was ruled out for the rest of the season, sources have told ESPN.

Barca filed a request to La Liga last week for permission to sign a new player after Dembele underwent surgery on a ruptured tendon in Finland, leaving him sidelined for six months. They are also without striker Luis Suarez for the next two to three months due to a knee problem.

La Liga maintains the right to authorise signings outside of the transfer window, which closed in January, on a case-by-case basis. The legislation states that if a player is ruled out for at least five months, a replacement can be signed.

The Catalan club sent La Liga the medical reports following Dembele's operation and, on Monday, they received notification that a panel of experts had confirmed the severity of his injury.

As a result, they have been given the go-ahead to make an emergency signing. However, they can only sign players already registered in Spain or that are without a club. They only have a 15-day window, too.

Sources told ESPN last week that Barca have looked into moves for several forwards already. Real Sociedad's Willian Jose and Real Betis' Loren Moron have been ruled out because of the money being demanded by their clubs.

Alaves' Lucas Perez and Getafe's Angel Rodriguez, who scored in his side's 2-1 loss at Camp Nou on Saturday, are seen as more affordable options, with sources explaining Barca only have around €12 million to spend.

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However, the same sources say that none of those four are currently the leading target.

Mundo Deportivo reported on Monday that the former Middlesbrough striker Martin Braithwaite, now at La Liga side Leganes, had emerged as the club's first option.

Sources at Barcelona would neither confirm nor deny interest in the Denmark international at this stage, while sources at Leganes said they had not yet received an approach from the Spanish champions for the player.

Coach coolQuique Setien has spoken of the need for a new signing in attack after being left with a small squad.

With Dembele and Suarez injured and Carles Perez sold in January, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann, plus Barca B winger Ansu Fati, are his only attacking options as things stand.

And following an injury to Jordi Alba at the weekend, Setien only has 15 fit first-team players to work with at the moment, including two goalkeepers, as preparations begin for upcoming games against Napoli and Real Madrid following this Saturday's match at home to Eibar.

Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has said he will be keeping a close eye on whether the English Premier League punishes Manchester City for breaching financial regulations.

City have been banned from European competition for the next two seasons and fined €30 million ($32.52m) by UEFA after an investigation into alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play rules.

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City have denied any wrongdoing and confirmed they are appealing the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Premier League have also opened an investigation into City, who won the 2013-14 league title by finishing two points ahead of Liverpool.

"I'm really, really interested in it -- for obvious reasons," Rangers manager Gerrard, who captained the Liverpool side during the 2013-14 campaign, told reporters.

"From a UEFA point of view, it is obviously a real strong sentence or punishment. I'm sure they will appeal so we will wait and see what the outcome is on that."

In 2014, Liverpool had been on course to win their first league title since 1990, but suffered a collapse late in the campaign, with a Gerrard slip in a home clash with Chelsea gifting Demba Ba a goal in a 2-0 home loss.

UEFA said City had committed "serious breaches" of the regulations by overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts and in the break-even information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.

Meanwhile, Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has said City deserve the "benefit of the doubt" until the ban appeal.

"At the end of the process we will see if they are punished or not," Mourinho said.

"UEF punished them but they have the chance to appeal. Until the appeal finishes I think Manchester City has the benefit of the doubt."

As Manchester United boss, Mourinho finished second to City in their record-breaking 2017-18 campaign where, under Pep Guardiola, they reached 100 points as champions.

Manchester United and Northern Ireland legend Harry Gregg, who survived the Munich air crash, has died at 87.

Gregg spent nine years at United and made 247 appearances, became the world's most expensive keeper when Sir Matt Busby signed him for £23,000 in 1957.

He was hailed as a hero following the Munich air crash where he pulled several people to safety from the wreckage including teammates Bobby Charlton, Dennis Viollet, a 20-month old baby and her pregnant mother.

The Harry Gregg Foundation confirmed his passing in a statement on their Facebook page.

"The Gregg family would like to thank the medical staff at Causeway Hospital for their wonderful dedication to Harry over his last few weeks," the statement said.

"To everyone who has called, visited or sent well wishes we thank you for the love and respect shown to Harry and the family.

"Never to be forgotten!"

Gregg also made 25 appearances for Northern Ireland.

Funeral arrangements will be announced in the next few days.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said Manchester United's summer recruitment drive will be made easier if they can offer prospective new signings Champions League football.

United have pledged to continue to invest in the squad with Borussia Dortmund forward Jadon Sancho on their wanted list, and ahead of the trip to Chelsea on Monday -- crucial in the race for the top four -- Solskjaer has said a return to the Champions League could help lure the best players to Old Trafford.

"The Champions League gives the club more resources, more money, that's one thing," Solskjaer told a news conference on Friday.

"It's a prestigious tournament to be in, of course. Doing as well as we can and if we play well the rest of the season, and players that we might want are impressed by that, it might be easier to convince them that we're here.

"But I don't think one season -- this season is the Europa League -- if next season is with or without the Champions League, I wouldn't say that's the be-all and end-all for a player to sign for us."

Solskjaer's team will move within three points of Chelsea if they can win at Stamford Bridge, but they will have to do it without Paul Pogba as he continues his recovery from ankle surgery.

Pogba's agent Mino Raiola has again suggested the France international could look to leave United in the summer, but Solskjaer has said the midfielder's future will only be decided by the club.

"I've not spoken to Mino, that's for sure," Solskjaer said.

"I haven't sat down and told Paul to tell his agent what to say, but Paul is our player and not Mino's.

"Paul's still on his recovery programme, he's taken off his cast, so when he comes back here we'll integrate him with us. Hopefully soon.

"He's started running on the treadmill now, so he's getting closer. It's been a long haul, this, so hopefully we'll see him back soon."

United fans could get a first look at Odion Ighalo at Chelsea after the striker's deadline loan move from Shanghai Shenhua.

Ighalo has signed a deal until the end of the season as cover for the injured Marcus Rashford, but Solskjaer has not ruled out keeping the 30-year-old if he makes an impact.

"It's a loan, but when you're in the door and if you impress, it gives you a chance," Solskjaer said.

"That's exactly the same for everyone who signs. If it's permanent or if it's a loan, if you impress as a player, if you impress as a person, if you can help this group improve, of course there's a chance we'll look at extending things and signing.

"That doesn't just go for Odion, but his incentive is to play as well as he can and it's up to us to make sure he wants to stay, if we want him."

New Zealand's returning coach Gary Stead has said that he was "very surprised" by the criticism that had been directed at him when we went on a pre-planned leave, after the team had been blanked 5-0 in the T20I series against India.

Stead handed over the reins to bowling coach Shane Jurgensen for the following three-match ODI series and took a five-day break, which sparked outrage in New Zealand. Former captain Jeremy Coney, in particular, was scathing in his criticism of the coach and the timing of his leave. Prior to the T20Is against India, New Zealand had been whitewashed 3-0 across the Tasman Sea in the longest format.

ALSO READ: Coney hits out at Stead, NZC defends coach's leave

"I was really surprised," Stead said ahead of the first Test against India. "I mean New Zealand Cricket and I have talked about this for a long time, looking after the staff and the players we have. So, we did that and I know New Zealand Cricket are doing what we think is right for our us as people, first and foremost, so we did it. I was very surprised.

"I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion. I guess what Jeremy Coney says about me doesn't necessarily have relevance to the way we go about things. So, yeah..."

New Zealand cricket had earlier backed Stead's pre-planned holiday, citing workload issues. In Stead's absence, New Zealand clinched the ODI series 3-0. After sweeping the ODI series, captain Kane Williamson opted not to read too much into Stead's leave and reiterated that it was a pre-planned one.

Stead said that he now felt refreshed following the break and is plotting an upturn in New Zealand's Test fortunes after their 3-0 drubbing in Australia.

"It was good to spend time with the family," he said. I know that. Look, I have had four-five days and I'm back to work planning for this Test series now. Again, the distractions don't need to be there. So, we have to move on and look ahead to the India Test series now. "

Faf du Plessis has stepped down as captain of South Africa's Test and T20I sides with immediate effect. However, the 35-year-old remains fully committed to playing all three formats for the time being.

Du Plessis cited a need to give the next generation of leaders within the team a chance to develop as the reason for stepping down. Last month Quinton de Kock was named stand-in captain for the ODI series against England, with du Plessis being rested. Graeme Smith, South Africa's director of cricket, had then confirmed that the management was looking at de Kock as the permanent captain.

"This was one of the toughest decisions to make, but I remain fully committed to supporting Quinton, Mark [Boucher] and my team-mates as we continue to rebuild and re-align as a group," a Cricket South Africa (CSA) release quoted du Plessis as saying. "South African cricket has entered a new era. New leadership, new faces, new challenges and new strategies. I remain committed to play in all three formats of the game for now as a player, and will offer my knowledge and time to the new leaders of the team."

Du Plessis led South Africa in 36 Tests, out of which they won 15 and lost 13. They fared much better in the white-ball formats: winning 28 out of 39 ODIs and 23 out of 37 T20Is under him.

He is the only South African captain to have won home and away series against Australia in both Tests and ODIs but have been under pressure since the side failed to make it to the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup in England.

"After the 2019 ICC World Cup, I made the decision to continue in my role as captain while the team went through a rebuilding phase following the retirement of some key senior players and a complete overhaul of the coaching staff that we had worked with until then. It was important to me that I stayed to help the team find its feet and plot a new way forward while assisting in identifying the next generation of leaders within the players' group during a time of turbulence in SA cricket. The last season of my captaincy has been the most challenging to date as I had a lot of off-field issues that I devoted my energy towards."

ALSO READ: Cricket is a finite game and Faf du Plessis' finish is in sight

South Africa have been looking at de Kock as their next captain across formats for a while now. Last year in du Plessis' absence, he led the side in the three-match T20I series in India, that ended in 1-1 draw. And while South Africa lost the recently concluded T20I series against England 2-1 under him, there were plenty of positives for the side.

South Africa next host Australia for three T20Is, the first of those starting on Friday, followed by three ODIs.

More to follow