The maverick Egyptian has suffered a barrage of hamstring injuries over the past two years, however his body looked to be coping as he made it all the way to the final in Cairo.
But he was forced to shake hands in the fourth game of his clash with compatriot Karim Abdel Gawad, bringing a premature end to the match and preventing ‘The Artist’ from appearing in Qatar, the scene of two of his three World Championship triumphs.
The injury will also dent Ashour’s hopes of being one of the eight qualifiers for the season-ending Dubai PSA World Series Finals as he will be unable to accrue vital points on the PSA Road to Dubai Standings – where he currently sits in third place – with the Qatar Classic acting as the third stage on the PSA Road to Dubai.
As a result of the injury, German No.1 Simon Rösner takes Ashour’s place as the number eight seed and will meet a qualifier in the opening round, while Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller moves into the main draw and will also face a qualifier.
Revised Main Draw – 2016 Qatar Classic
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v Cameron Pilley (AUS)
Leo Au (HKG) v [Qualifier]
James Willstrop (ENG) v Chris Simpson (ENG)
[Qualifier] v [8] Simon Rösner (GER)
[7] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [Qualifier]
[WC] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) v [4] Nick Matthew (EGY)
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Tom Richards (ENG) v Zahed Mohamed (EGY)
Max Lee (HKG) v Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
[Qualifier] v [6] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)
[5] Ali Farag (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Cesar Salazar (MEX) v Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v [Qualifier]
Daryl Selby (ENG) v [2] Omar Mosaad (EGY)
The qualifying stages of the 2016 Qatar Classic will take place on November 11-12, while the main draw begins a day later, with the final taking place on Friday November 18 – entry to the tournament is free of charge.