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Welsh Wizards, the Cardiff-based Professional Squash League team, are facing a player crisis.
The leading three players in their squad, all ranked inside the World’s top 15, have suffered injuries.
PSL officials have given Wizards special dispensation to search Worldwide for a new signing to play at number one in next Tuesday’s home fixture against Chichester.
The match is at Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff and the Wizards team will include World number 12 Tesni Evans, Peter Creed, Elliott Morris Devred, while former World number three David Evans and other Welsh players are on standby.
Cardiff-born Emyr Evans and Spain’s Edmon Lopez are both away playing in tournaments and unavailable and that has led to Wizards’ search for talent.
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.
Miguel Rodrigues, nicknamed the Colombian cannonball, and Egyptian Tarek Momen are among players competing at the Qatar Squash Classic who are not affiliated to a PSL team.
Momen plays Welshman Joel Makin, from Pembrokeshire, in the Qatar Classic quarter-finals this afternoon and Wizards will talk to him after that match.
Wizards official David Evans, former World number three and British Open champion, is heading up the search, making a series of telephone calls to Doha.
“Our run of injuries has been incredible,” says Evans. “We are doing everything possible to find a top class replacement.”
Wizards are a new team to PSL this season and opened their season with a 3-2 win against Coolhurst.
Marwan 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.
Frenchman Gregory 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 Omar 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 for Wizards, but was injured during his match against England’s Adrian Waller.
He rang Evans today and withdrew from the Welsh line-up, sparking the search for a replacement to play at number one.
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.
Chichester squad: Mathieu Castagnet, Omar Abdel Meguid, Olli Pett, Tim Vail, Kyle Finch, Miles Jenkins, Tom Walsh, Amanda Landers-Murphy, Lauren Briggs.
Tickets for Wizards v Chichester
Qatar Classic quarter-finals to be played this afternoon at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Comple
5.30pm (2.30pm UK time) [4] Simon Rosner (Germany) v [7] Paul Coll (New Zealand)
6.30pm (3.30pm) [1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egypt) v [8] Diego Elias (Peru)
7.30pm (4.30pm) [2] Ali Farag (Egypt) v [6] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egypt)
8.30pm (5.30pm) [3] Tarek Momen (Egypt) v Joel Makin (Wales)
