The popular Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada is preparing to welcome 4 former world No1s, who will compete in the 2011 Hurghada International which gets underway on an all-glass court tomorrow following today’s completion of qualifying in Cairo. Egypt’s world No2 Ramy Ashour (pic) is seeded to win the men’s event for the 4th year in a row. Ashour is expected to meet 2nd seed Karim Dawish in a repeat of last year’s final. But the two Egyptian stars are expected to face stiff competition from a pair of Frenchmen who have also topped the world rankings: Greg Gaultier and Thierry Lincou are the third and fourth seeds. Men’s qualifying finals: Simon Roesner (GER) bt Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) 11-9, 21-19, 11-3 (74m); Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt Amr Khaled Khalifa (EGY) 12-10, 11-7, 11-2 (38m); Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 13-11, 11-7, 11-2 (27m); Nicolas Müller (SUI) bt Stephane Galifi (ITA) 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6 (50m).
