Egypt’s Mazen Gamal has signed for Welsh Wizards and will make his debut in their Professional Squash League home fixture against Chichester in Cardiff on Tuesday.
Gamal, who was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and lives in Cairo, has joined Wizards to ease their injury crisis.
He joins Welsh players Peter Creed, Elliott Morris-Devred, World No 9 Tesni Evans and former British Open champion David Evans in the line-up.
World number 61 Gamal won the 2016 PSA Valencia Squash Championship, beating compatriot Karim El-Hammamy in Spain, winning 3-1 (9-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-5).
Wizards, the Cardiff-based PSL team, have faced a player crisis with the leading three players in their squad, all ranked inside the World’s top 15, injured.
'Tweener and a rolling boast from Mazen Gamal!! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/drcp74bRCw
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) September 6, 2017
PSL officials gave Wizards special dispensation to search Worldwide for new signings to play against Chichester.
World number three Marwan ElShorbagy, French ace Gregory Gaultier, ranked seven, and 14th ranked Egyptian Omar Mosaad are all injured.
Cardiff-born Emyr Evans and Spain’s Edmon Lopez are in the Wizards squad, but both are away playing in tournaments and unavailable.
Teams are not normally allowed to strengthen their squad unit January, but the extent of Wizards’ injury problems has led to a relaxation of the rules.
Wizards’ match against Chichester is at Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff on Tuesday.
They are a new team in PSL this season and opened their season with a 3-2 win against Coolhurst.
ElShorbagy, the World number three, was due to make his team debut, but withdrew because of a serious family illness in Egypt. He flew home, suffered a long-term injury and has not played team or tournament squash since.
Gaultier, a former World Open title winner now ranked seven in the World, has suffered a knee injury which needed surgery and won’t play until the new year.
Wizards then turned to Mosaad, an Egyptian who is 14 in the World rankings and nicknamed the ‘Hammer of Thor’ on the professional circuit.
The hard-hitting Mosaad, who has been playing in the Qatar Classic, agreed to play against Chichester, but was injured during his match against England’s Adrian Waller.
Remaining PSL fixtures in 2018
November
Tuesday 6: Warwick/Kenilworth v Nottingham, Welsh Wizards v Chichester, Bristol v Birmingham, RAC v Coolhurst, Pontefract v Newcastle, St George’s v Bexley.
Tuesday 27: Warwick/Kenilworth v Pontefract, Welsh Wizards v St George’s, Bristol v Newcastle, RAC v Bexley, Birmingham v Nottingham, Coolhurst v Chichester.
December
Tuesday 4: Newcastle v Warwick/Kenilworth, Bexley v Welsh Wizards, Nottingham v Bristol, Chichester v RAC, Pontefract v Birmingham, St George’s v Coolhurst.
Second Half fixtures reversed, dates to be confirmed.