England’s world No1 Nick Matthew (pic le) will line up against his German Bundesliga team-mate wild card player Jens Schoor in the 1st round of the ROWE British Grand Prix in Manchester. Top seed Matthew want to make up for the disappointment of being forced to withdraw from last year’s championship after being taken ill on the eve of the event. Matthew’s opponent in this year’s final is expected to be Egyptian rival Ramy Ashour (pic ri), the world No2 who is the title-holder. Ashour, one of 6 former world number ones in the British Grand Prix field, opens his 2011 campaign against a qualifier. World No3 Egyptian Karim Darwish has one of the toughest first round matches – against Australian Stewart Boswell, the former world No4. Another surprising 1st round clash has 5th seed Amr Shabana, the four-time World Open champion taking on fellow countryman Hisham Mohd Ashour, the world No13 who is famous for his “Mizuki shot”. ROWE British Grand Prix 1st round draw: [1] Nick Matthew (ENG) v Jens Schoor (GER); Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) v Ong Beng Hee (MAS); Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) v Qualifier; [7] Peter Barker (ENG) v Qualifier; [5] Amr Shabana (EGY) v Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY); Tom Richards (ENG) v Qualifier; Adrian Grant (ENG) v Olli Tuominen (FIN); [4] James Willstrop (ENG) v Qualifier; [3] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Stewart Boswell (AUS); Alister Walker (BOT) v Qualifier; Omar Mosaad (EGY) v Jonathan Kemp (ENG); [8] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v Qualifier; [6] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Saurav Ghosal (IND); Daryl Selby (ENG) v Qualifier; Cameron Pilley (AUS) v Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK); [2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Qualifier.
