North Kessock squash star reaches highest ever world ranking
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North Kessock athlete Greg Lobban says his breakthrough to the top 20 in the world squash rankings was an achievement 10 years in the making.
The 31-year-old is the first Scottish player in 15 years to break into the top 20 in the world rankings, after reaching 19th place when the rankings were released on Monday.
The last Scot to reach the top 20 was John White, who was ranked 15th in 2008.
Having now hit a milestone which had eluded him for close to a decade, he has learned from experience how important it is to enjoy moments like these.
Lobban said: “When I reached the top 50, the next milestone was to get into the top 20.
“That was something that I thought was going to be achievable, but at the same time it was a little bit out of reach, and I knew it was going to be a real challenge to get there.”
“I’m getting a bit older obviously, and I know that the highs can be short lived – but nobody will be able to take away from me that I was a top 20 player – so it’s something I’ll always remember fondly.”
His result in Qatar – and the subsequent ranking points boost – will ease some pressure and allow Greg to stay fully focused on putting on great performances on court for the rest of this season.
It came at a cost, though, as the squash ace was scheduled to start a new chapter in his life as a student at Heriot-Watt University last week.
Greg laughed: “I wasn’t able to attend the first week of classes because I won a few more matches than I might have expected to last week.
“I’m still fully committed to being a full-time athlete, and hopefully studying at university will be a nice distraction from squash while helping me to better myself and become more knowledgeable.”
Meanwhile the Scottish Squash Open starts in Inverness today with two Highland players in the tournament.
Culloden athlete Alasdair Prott is eight seed and has been given a bye into the second round.
