Egyptian superstars to continue rivalry in new season opener
By SEAN REUTHE

Top Egyptian duo Ali Farag and Mohamed ElShorbagy – the men’s World No.1 and No.2, respectively – are seeded to meet in the final of the J.P. Morgan China Squash Open after the draws for the PSA World Tour Gold event held in Shanghai were released today.

The China Open is the first PSA World Tour event of the 2019-20 season and will take place from September 4-8, with action from the second round onwards taking place in a glass show court atop The Peninsula Shanghai, overlooking the famous Shanghai Bund.

Farag and ElShorbagy are expected to contest the title decider in what will be their 17th meeting on the PSA World Tour. The pair won 10 titles between them and six of the seven PSA Platinum titles on offer during the 2018-19 campaign.

Harvard graduate Farag had the upper hand in their head-to-head record last season, winning three matches to ElShorbagy’s two. He is seeded to play ElShorbagy’s younger brother, Marwan, in the quarter-finals, and is drawn on the same side of the draw as Indian No.1 Saurav Ghosal.

Meanwhile, ElShorbagy is predicted to line up against defending champion Mohamed Abouelghar in the semi-finals, 12 months after Abouelghar defeated New Zealand’s Paul Coll to lift his biggest PSA title to date.

Reigning champion Raneem El Welily heads up the women’s draw and she is seeded to face World No.4 Nouran Gohar in the final.

El Welily beat France’s Camille Serme in last year’s title decider, and will look to avenge a quarter-final defeat to Gohar in May’s British Open.

El Welily, the current World No.1, enjoyed the most successful season of her career in 2018/19, and after closing out the season with victory at the PSA World Tour Finals, will look to kickstart the new campaign with silverware in Shanghai. She is predicted to meet New Zealand’s World No.6 Joelle King in the semis.

Gohar, meanwhile, has reached the final of the China Open three times before and will look to finally get her hands on the trophy. She is seeded to face England’s Victoria Lust and World No.5 Nour El Tayeb en route to the final.

Local player Li Dongjin is set to face Egyptian teenager Hania El Hammamy in round one, while men’s wildcard Zhitao Zhou will also take on an up-and-coming Egyptian youngster in Mostafa Asal.

A total of $224,000 worth of prize money is on offer in Shanghai, where matches will be split between The Peninsula Shanghai and the SECA Academy Jinqiao.

J.P. Morgan China Squash Open .

Men’s Draw:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) [bye]
Ivan Yuen (MAS) v [9/16] Youssef Soliman (EGY)
[9/16] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v [WC] Zhitao Zhou (CHN)
[5] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) [bye]
[8] Adrian Waller (ENG) [bye]
Eain Yow Ng (MAS) v [9/16] Mazen Hesham (EGY)
[9/16] Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) v Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT)
[4] Saurav Ghosal (IND) [bye]
[3] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) [bye]
Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP) v [9/16] Greg Lobban (SCO)
[9/16] Tom Richards (ENG) v Alan Clyne (SCO)
[6] Omar Mosaad (EGY) [bye]
[7] Cesar Salazar (MEX) [bye]
Todd Harrity (USA) v [9/16] Leo Au (HKG)
[9/16] Lucas Serme (FRA) v Karim Ali Fathi (EGY)
[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) [bye]

Women’s Draw:
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) [bye]
Milou van der Heijden (NED) v [9/16] Low Wee Wern (MAS)
[9/16] Donna Lobban (AUS) v Nada Abbas (EGY)
[8] Salma Hany (EGY) [bye]
[5] Annie Au (HKG) [bye]
[WC] Li Dongjin (CHN) v [9/16] Hania El Hammamy (EGY)
[9/16] Zeina Mickawy (EGY) v Hollie Naughton (CAN)
[4] Joelle King (NZL) [bye]
[3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) [bye]
Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG) v [9/16] Rachael Grinham (AUS)
[9/16] Nadine Shahin (EGY) v Haley Mendez (USA)
[6] Alison Waters (ENG) [bye]
[7] Victoria Lust (ENG) [bye]
Julianne Courtice (ENG) v [9/16] Yathreb Adel (EGY)
[9/16] Joey Chan (HKG) v Danielle Letourneau (CAN)
[2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) [bye] 

Report by SEAN REUTHE (PSA). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.

Pictures courtesy of PSA

Former Leicester second row Steve Mafi is to join London Irish.

The Tonga international, who played at the 2015 World Cup, will join early in the new season, having most recently been with French side Castres.

The Australian-born forward has also played for Western Force in Super Rugby and made more than 80 appearances for Leicester between 2010 and 2014.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for me to return to England and test myself in the Premiership," Mafi said.

He is the ninth international to join Irish this summer following the club's promotion back to the top flight after one season in the Championship.

Paddy Jackson, Sean O'Brien, Nick Phipps and Waisake Naholo are among the other newcomers.

"We know how demanding and challenging the Gallagher Premiership is, so it is important that we assemble a squad to meet the demands," Exiles director of rugby Declan Kidney told the club website.

"Steve has a wealth of experience and the ability to cover several positions in the second and back row."

CONCORD, N.C. – Roush Fenway Racing has inked a three-year partnership with Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection specializing in the development of on-premises and cloud-based backup, disaster recovery, secure file sync and share, and data access solutions.

The multi-year relationship will serve as both a marketing platform and technology partnership, with Roush Fenway utilizing the Acronis’ tools to enhance its racing operations.

The Acronis brand will make its on-track debut at Watkins Glen in August, serving as the primary partner for the Ford Mustangs of both Ryan Newman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at the famed road course event in upstate New York.

Acronis will also serve as the primary partner on Newman’s No. 6 Ford at the Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway night race on Aug. 17 and at Dover Int’l Speedway on Oct. 6.

“It’s great to bring Acronis on board and we are looking forward to having them on both of our cars at Watkins Glen,” said Newman. “They are the standard in cyber protection and we are looking forward to working with them both as a marketing and technology partner.”

In addition, the partnership will help expand Roush Fenway’s technological capabilities with advanced cloud backup and disaster recovery services, cutting-edge file sharing, and robust computer power simulations.

Acronis designs its solutions to address the Five Vectors of Cyber Protection — ensuring the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security of data (SAPAS). This unique approach allows Acronis to deliver easy, efficient, and secure cyber protection.

As a result, the company is now the technology partner of choice in several motorsports, including Formula 1, Formula E, and NASCAR.

These same solutions will help Roush Fenway Racing ensure the security and safety of the team’s systems, applications, and data – both at the track and at the race shop. At the same time, Acronis will be showcasing its capabilities to help grow its business worldwide.

“Acronis technology meets the efficiency and reliability requirements demanded by motorsport teams that compete at the highest level. Through this partnership, Acronis will enable Roush Fenway Racing to focus on developing their car and achieving results on the racetrack without having to worry about the safety of their data. We are looking forward to a long successful partnership together,” said Dan Havens, Acronis Growth Officer.

“We are very pleased to announce our partnership with Acronis,” added Roush Fenway President Steve Newmark. “Acronis is a world leader in the fields of cyber protection and disaster recovery, and we are excited about the capabilities that the partnership brings to Roush Fenway.”

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Too much of a good thing is, well, not a good thing.

Currently there are 21 races on the Formula One calendar and team personnel are stretched to their absolute limit and spending too much time away from their homes and families.

Now, Formula One’s commercial owner, Liberty Media, has gone on record as saying that the goal is to have 25 races in a season.

Right now, it’s not too bad for some of the European rounds — there are 10 — because some of the crew members can fly out early Thursday morning and return home Sunday night or Monday morning.

However, six of those races are paired in three groups of back-to-back events. In these cases, many of the crew members travel straight from one country to another, so that means 11 days away from home.

For the “flyaways,” which are the 11 races outside of Europe, the crews usually leave on Monday and return the following Monday. But there are two back-to-backs on the schedule, which means about 15 days away for each of those.

The crew members, of course, fly in cramped economy class. It’s only senior team personnel and the drivers who travel in business or first class. And drivers such as Lewis Hamilton have private jets.

Vietnam joins the calendar next year and Formula One’s CEO Chase Carey is keen to add races in the U.S. and Africa in the future.

A big chunk of F-1’s commercial income comes from promoters paying the fees — up to $50 million annually — to host a grand prix. More races equal more money for both the teams and Liberty. But what about the strain on the crew members and their families?

“I don’t care about the families,” said Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost. “We can have 26 races. If we get the money for all the races, that’s important. Then I don’t have a problem.”

However, more races come at a human cost because it means more time away from home and families for traveling team personnel. The big teams can afford to hire extra people to rotate the staff that goes to races, but the smaller teams can’t.

“I care about the families,” Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said. “Because then the people working are happy.”

There is also a point of saturation and too much of a good thing. Will F-1 continue to be special if there are so many races?

“Do you limit the races to 18 and charge more for them because there is more demand?” asked Racing Point’s team principal Otmar Szafnauer. “But then you have to know how much more demand and how much more you can charge if 18 is more exclusive than 25. With TV as well, you might get a bit more money if you can show it 25 times a year than 18. I remember when we did 16 races — it was a bit more exclusive then.”

Liberty’s plan is to initially compress the weekend by moving some of the media commitments plus the car tech inspection from Thursday to Friday. In the longer term, there could be two-day race weekends.

The theory is that by freeing up an extra day per weekend — say over 25 races — it creates 25 days at home for team staff. But it doesn’t really work out that way for races outside of Europe and any back-to-back pairings.

From the promoters’ point of view, two-day weekends may work at venues like Bahrain and Azerbaijan, where there is minimal spectator turnout. But many tracks depend on and need the extra income that Friday on-track action provides for them.

The fan turnout on a Friday at a venue like Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is massive.

Tracks like Montreal, the Hungaroring and Spa also draw a large number of fans for a pit walk on Thursday. And those fans are paying customers at the concession and souvenir stands, as well.

In short, a shorter race weekend will mean the promoters will lose money, while at the same time not really reducing the human cost to the teams.

There can be too much of good thing.

CONCORD, N.C. — Brad Sweet banked $175,000 for winning the Kings Royal sprint car race at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway and strengthened his position atop the National Sprint Car Rankings.

With two victories during a four-race week, Sweet’s average finish dropped to 4.977 in 43 starts this season. Sweet has 12 victories.

Donny Schatz, who also won twice at Eldora over the weekend, ranks second with an average finish of 5.256.

Lance Dewease ran his 20th race and enters the rankings for the first time in third spot with an average finish of 5.35.

Logan Wagner also made his 20th start and ranks fourth with a 5.7 average finish.

Danny Dietrich, who picked up his 12th win of the season in the Mitch Smith Memorial at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway, ranks fifth with an average finish of 6.256. Dietrich is the first driver to make 50 starts and can begin dropping his worst finishes.

Dietrich leads the Eastern region on the strength of 12 victories, while other regional leaders are Buddy Kofoid (Great Lakes), Nick Omdahl (Great Plains), Dominic Scelzi (West), Jacob Patton (Mid-America) and Jack Sodeman Jr. (Ohio-PA).

Ninety-two drivers have combined to win 209 features run through July 21.

ROCK HILL, S.C. – North Carolina dirt-track racer Colt Gilliam, 29, has landed a ride for the upcoming NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Dirt Derby at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.

Gilliam, who competes regularly in the Super Street division at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, N.C., will pilot the No. 8 Chevrolet Silverado for NEMCO Motorsports during the seventh edition of the Gander Trucks’ annual excursion onto the half-mile Ohio dirt track.

The Aug. 1 event will mark Gilliam’s first foray into one of NASCAR’s three national touring series.

“The past few days have been crazy,” said Gilliam. “There have been a lot of restless nights just thinking about what we’re going to get to do next week. I still get butterflies jumping into a street stock or anything else, so I can’t imagine what it will be like when we get ready to go truck racing next week.

“I’m excited. There’s been a lot going on as we prepare to do this, but it’ll all sink in pretty quickly when we get to the race track and get going next Wednesday.”

It’s the realization of a racing dream for Gilliam, who has pictured having a career-defining moment such as the opportunity he’s being afforded by team owner Joe Nemechek for as long as he’s been racing.

“Not only am I getting to drive a truck, but I’m getting to drive at Eldora Speedway,” Gilliam noted. “That’s insane for me to think about. Really, it’s letting me kill two birds with one stone. It’s incredible and I’m thankful for the opportunity from everyone at NEMCO who’s allowing me to go and do this.”

Gilliam explained that his connection with the NEMCO team came about in part due to a family connection that led to a phone call about the ride, when Nemechek’s son John Hunter became unable to compete in the Eldora event due to other obligations with GMS Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“My stepdad had some involvement in NASCAR in the past, and he was over at PME getting some engines done and decided he’d go over and talk to Joe a little bit,” recalled Gilliam. “Joe’s son, John Hunter, was going to run the truck … but ended up with another obligation he has to do before he goes to Watkins Glen (Int’l), and he called me up because they had a tire sponsor already in place and asked if I wanted to come and drive it.

“When I got that phone call, it was an out-of-this-world, completely out-of-the-blue moment,” he added. “It was just a case of everything lining up at the perfect time.”

While Gilliam is setting modest goals for his NASCAR debut, his team is behind him to the fullest extent, and the South Carolina driver noted that they believe he can surprise some people next week.

“Joe has helped me a lot in getting ready,” he added. “He was the first one to jump in and tell me what to expect and helped me get comfortable in the seat. It has been a process to get to this point, but we feel ready and we’re going in hoping for some magic.

“I told Joe that I just wanted to make the show, and he told me, ‘You won’t have any problem doing that; we’re going there to win the race.’ We’ll just see what happens.”

Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared on Racer.com.

INDIANAPOLIS – The phone rang Monday morning and the voice said: “Did you hear about K.O.?”

Immediately I thought, “Oh no, he’s finally done it. Kevin Olson — ageless midget racer; noted author; lover of the old school; and friend to all on four wheels — has finally succeeded in killing himself in a race car.

“Where did he eat it?” I asked.

“No, he’s fine,” came the response. “He won last night at Sun Prairie.”

What? This loveable loon and former USAC midget champion won at one of the fastest, raciest tracks in the Midwest … at the age of 68?

Yep, on the same weekend that 63-year-old Sammy Swindell sat on the pole for the Kings Royal sprint car show at Eldora, Olson made it to victory lane at the place where he started racing 50 years ago.

I dialed him up Monday afternoon for confirmation and he answered from a bar in Evansville, Wis.

“It’s true,” he hollered above the noise. “I started at Angell Park (Sun Prairie’s other name) in 1970 in an old Kurtis chassis. I haven’t won anything since 1998 because I’m 100 years old and I can’t see any more, but I got lucky.

“I didn’t quit partying until dawn. I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been drinking Crown Royal all afternoon, so I’m buzzed and I’m still buzzing, but I can die tonight with a smile on my face because I won again at the Prairie.”

RELATED: Dickerson Goes From USAC Wrench To NASCAR Owner

In the past couple of decades, K.O. has worked for the IMS Radio Network (and conducted some of the funniest interviews ever); written a book about his life in racing (“Cages Are for Monkeys”); pens a monthly column for Sprint Car & Midget Magazine; and showed up at the Chili Bowl with his open-face helmet and the hopes he could somehow make it to the C-main.

But in his day, Olson was a damn good midget racer. He captured Turkey Night at Ascot Park, the Hut 100 at Terre Haute, and a total of 23 USAC features, in addition to owning a pair of USAC championships in 1982 and 1987.

“It was a nothing race – a little midget race nobody gives a s*** about – but to me it was as big as Turkey Night or the Hut 100 because I’ve been washed up for years. I wanted to win one more time at Angell Park before I died, though, even if I had to run until I was 90,” said the native of Rockford, Ill., who now has 47 midget wins at Sun Prairie and is in the Midget Racing Hall of Fame.

“I got the lead running the bottom because I’m not the brave guy any more, but it was an old man’s track and you had to search around for traction,” he added. “Scott (Hatton) was running high and we kept trading the lead, and I just barely nipped him.”

Naturally, he had to confess what really helped prepare him.

“I was drunk before both of my big wins at Ascot and Terre Haute and Jack Calabrase and I got hammered for two days before Sunday’s race,” admitted Olson. “Tom Bigelow once told me that if you’re hung over you’ll want the race to end sooner so you’ll go faster.

“It worked.”

The win also ended what had become a painful July tradition.

“I broke my neck in a midget race on July 19 and my back another time in a crash on July 20,” recalled Olson. “Then an engine hoist fell on me on July 19 a couple years ago, and I was in a motorcycle crash on July 20 last year. So I think July 21 has ended the curse and now I’m good to go for at least another year.”

It’s not easy to get hired at age 68, but Donnie Kleven bought a Spike chassis with a Ford engine for K.O. to campaign this year at Angell Park.

Olson also got some help from Denny Lamers (his car owner when he won the Hut 100) and Honest Jack’s Used Cars (I think he might have made that one up).

He grew up racing with Stan Fox, Tim Pangborn and Scott Dennison before becoming buddies with Sleepy Tripp, Jeff Heywood and Nick Gomeric. They raced, laughed and partied together up and down the Midwest highways in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

Sadly, Foxie died in 2000 in a passenger car accident. All the others have long since hung up their helmets. We’re all hoping this win in the way-past-sundown of his career will make K.O. finally walk away.

“I was gonna quit, but then I woke up this morning and said, “Hell I can still do this and I’ve got a new deal, so let’s keep going,” Olson rebutted.

It’s pretty hard to kill you off these days, because the seats and cars are so good and it’s pretty safe. I do think there’s a lot of false bravery out there because of that, and the real men raced back in the ’60s with no roll bars or cages.

“I’m not one of those real men like A.J. or Parnelli, but I gotta say it was so cool to hear the grandstand all pulling for me at The Prairie,” said K.O. “I think they were hoping I’d win so then I’d go away. But that ain’t gonna happen.”

It’s also a great excuse for a new round of K.O. T-shirts celebrating his latest entry into racing immortality.