The June News Review from Prince
This news digest is drawn from the News Pages of SquashNow, the leading internet squash information website, sponsored by Prince. The full versions of each story can be found by linking direct to:
Jahangir Heads First World Squash Awards
An inaugural World Squash Awards dinner at
London's RAC Club celebrated Jahangir Khan of Pakistan as the first
recipient of a new 'Lifetime Achievement Award' after anouncing Thiery
Lincou of France and Vanessa Atkinson of The Netherlands as
players of the past year.
Jahangir Khan, 41, is widely regarded as the greatest squash player of
all time and is now President of the World Squash Federation. He dominated
men's international squash through the eighties and into the nineties,
winning a record 10 British Open titles and six World Open crowns. He
established a remarkable record - said to be unequalled in any sport - when
he maintained an unbeaten run for five and a half years until unexpectedly
stopped by Ross Norman in a World Open final in Toulouse on 11 November
1986!
Thierry Lincou adapted his game immediately to the demands of this
season's new PSA 11 point scoring format, capturing three major
championships, including the World Open, in the last half of 2004 and
regaining World No1 ranking from January this year.
Vanessa Atkinson won every final she played in 2004, claiming eight
major WISPA championships! Recognising the opportunity presented by the
retirements of England's Cassie Jackman and New Zealander Carol Owens, she
moved from No5 to No2 during the season, and has brought to the forefront of
women's squash a great head-to-head rivalry with the Australian sisters
Rachael and Natalie Grinham.
Young Player Awards were also given to a brace of 21-year-olds: James
Willstrop of England, who shot from No18 to No5 in the PSA World Rankings in
a single year, and Nicol David of Malaysia, who is regarded as one of the
most technically skilled players in the professional game and has risen to
World No4 ranking with genuine star status in her home country.
WISPA Introduces Mentoring
A mentoring initiative intended to
smooth the early years for younger players on the women's world squash
circuit has been introduced for the membership of the Women's
International Squash Players' Association.
The scheme, which will be managed by England's World No8 Jenny Tranfield
(a PhD in Sports Psychology), WISPA Executive Director Andrew Shelley and
consultant Bob Morrison, will link a mentor (i.e. an experienced Tour
player) with a newly-joined professional (whom WISPA is calling a mentee).
"The advantages for the mentee include advice, of course, but the
benefits extend beyond this," explained Shelley. "The overall goal is
greater enjoyment and overall an improved Tour experience for WISPA
members."
The mentee benefits because she:
* Learns how the Tour works from a mentor who is experienced
* Has someone supportive to go to with questions or concerns
* Knows the mentor is available to help understand the early ups and downs
of a Tour career
* Can help maximise performance and potential by seeking advice from the
mentor
* Builds self-esteem and confidence by working with the mentor to get the
most from her WISPA membership and participation
The mentor benefits because she:
* Has an opportunity to give back to the Tour and the sport
* Gets satisfaction from helping another WISPA member develop her potential
* Broadens her own interpersonal skills
* Builds self-confidence by realising she has valuable information and
experience to share with the mentee
WISPA also benefits by:
* Helping ease the transition for new members, by improving their
satisfaction and enjoyment, thus maintaining their involvement.
* Supporting new members in managing the rigours of their new life on the
Tour
* Supporting the WISPA office by providing another more personal way to help
communicate proper Tour expectations, behaviour, and rules to new members
* Encouraging a sense of importance, responsibility and sharing in more
experienced members
* Building a sense of community and connection for members even though they
are spread all around the world
Shelley added: "One fundamental point is that the mentor is not meant to be
a "Coach" in the traditional sense, nor does she replace a mentee's own
coach or training team. The mentor is a friendly, informal guide and peer
counsellor.
"The scheme will be entirely voluntary and informal, beginning with a
pilot this year with a view to bringing it on stream for the membership as a
whole at the start of 2006 once the pilot testing has been reviewed and
arrangements tweaked accordingly."
It is also intended to enlarge the scheme to provide help and support
for players coming to the end of their Tour careers too, as WISPA feel that
this will also be valuable to members.
Nicol David Into Top Three For First Time
While Australia's Rachael Grinham retained her status
as world number one in the June Women's World Squash Rankings,
published by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA),
Nicol David rises to a career-high No3 to become the
highest-ranked Malaysian squash player of all-time.
David has grabbed the world's headlines since emerging as a junior in
1996, when she won the first of two British Junior U14 Open titles. Now
based in the Netherlands, the 21-year-old from Penang went on to become the
only woman to win two world junior titles, then continued her
record-breaking career on the WISPA World Tour in March when she claimed the
Kuwait Open crown, her fifth and biggest professional title.
Nicol David has overtaken Australia's Natalie Grinham, now at four in
the new list, and is behind second-placed Vanessa Atkinson - the world
champion from the Netherlands whom she is expected to meet in this weekend's
Dutch Open semi-finals.
Egypt's Omneya Abdel Kawy moved up to eight, her highest position for
four months, while England's Tania Bailey also rose one position to mark her
return to the top ten after a nineteen-month absence.
Two other Englishwomen were also upwardly-mobile: Londoner Alison
Waters, boosted by an unexpected appearance in the semi-finals of last
month's Hurghada International in Egypt, moved up to a career-best 17; while
Laura-Jane Lengthorn returned to the top twenty at 19.
World Top Twenty Women
From WISPA
1 [1] Rachael Grinham AUS
2 [2] Vanessa Atkinson NED
3 [4] Nicol David MAS
4 [3] Natalie Grinham AUS
5 [5] Natalie Grainger USA
6 [6] Linda Elriani ENG
7 [7] Vicky Botwright ENG
8 [10] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY
9 [9] Jenny Duncalf ENG
10 [11] Tania Bailey ENG
11 [8] Jenny Tranfield ENG
12 [12] Madeline Perry IRL
13 [13] Shelley Kitchen NZL
14 [14] Annelize Naude NED
15 [16] Isabelle Stoehr FRA
16 [15] Fiona Geaves ENG
17 [18] Alison Waters ENG
18 [17] Rebecca Chiu HKG
19 [21] Laura-Jane Lengthorn ENG
20 [20] Pamela Nimmo SCO
Lincou Into A Sixth Month As World No1
France's Thierry
Lincou celebrated his sixth successive month as World No1 in
the June PSA Men's World Squash Rankings,
announced by the Professional Squash Association.
Lincou, 29, headed an almost unchanged top twenty, ahead of England's
Lee Beachill at two; Australian David Palmer at three; and Canada's Jonathon
Power at number four. Power and Lincou contested the final of the Brit
Insurance Super Series Finals in London, the non-ranking PSA Tour event
which was won by the Canadian.
Malaysia's Mohd Azlan Iskandar was the only upward mover in the top
twenty, rising a single place to No18, aided by an unexpected second round
berth in April's PSA Masters in Bermuda.
Outside the top twenty, England's Bradley Ball reached a career-high
world No 24 ranking. The 28-year-old from Ipswich in Suffolk reached the
final of the Virginia Professional Championship in January to record his
16th PSA Tour final appearance.
Frenchman Stephane Galifi also celebrated a career-best ranking of 41,
following his surprise victory in last month's Grant Thornton Atlanta Open
in the USA.
But perhaps the most notable ranking rise was made by Australia's former
world No4 Stewart Boswell, who returned to the PSA Tour after a two-year
layoff caused by a mystery back ailment. At 216 in April, the 26-year-old
from Canberra began his comeback in New Zealand - and won his fourth
successive event (three as a qualifier) when he lifted the WA Open trophy in
Perth, Australia, to jump 133 places to 83 in the latest list.
World Top Twenty Men
From PSA
1 [1] Thierry Lincou FRA
2 [2] Lee Beachill ENG
3 [3] David Palmer AUS
4 [4] Jonathon Power CAN
5 [5] Peter Nicol ENG
6 [6] Amr Shabana EGY
7 [7] Anthony Ricketts AUS
8 [8] James Willstrop ENG
9 [9] Nick Matthew ENG
10 [10] John White SCO
11 [11] Karim Darwish EGY
12 [12] Gregory Gaultier FRA
13 [13] Graham Ryding CAN
14 [14] Joseph Kneipp AUS
15 [15] Ong Beng Hee MAS
16 [16] Adrian Grant ENG
17 [17] Shahid Zaman PAK
18 [19] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS
19 [18] Olli Tuominen FIN
20 [19] Mohammed Abbas EGY
Syed Comes In From The Cold
Matthew Syed, the ping-pong champion who offended the entire squash world with a belittling article about their sport in The Times during last year's British Open Championships has made some amends in the same newspaper with a significant piece about Jahngir Khan's belief in right of squash to be included in the Olympic Games.
Syed was at the Brit Insurance Super Series Finals in London and even played in a celebrity gathering to raise money for charity. There is said to be some chance that Peter Nicol will cancel the fatwa.
See what you think :
DO YOU, like me, shudder at the prospect of
golf or rugby union joining the Olympic Games? It is bad enough having to
put up with the likes of football and tennis, whose athletes seem to regard
the greatest sporting event on earth as a second holiday,
Syed writes.
Which is one of the reasons why squash ought to be at the top of the
ballot paper when the IOC votes on July 8 as to which sports, if any, to add
to the Games of 2012. If members of the blazered brigade bestow their
favours upon this cruelly overlooked sport, they can at least be assured
that the players will express their gratitude by fighting for gold as if
their lives depended on it.
Jahangir Khan, who went unbeaten for five years, seven months and one
day during the 1980s, summed up what Olympic status would mean. “It would
give the sport an unbelievable boost,” he said. “The Olympics would
instantly become the most prestigious title, which would make for a great
spectacle in 2012. Unlike some of the other candidates for inclusion, squash
is a game of real athleticism.”
It certainly is. I met Khan at the Brit Insurance Super Series Finals
in London and within minutes of sitting down with the great man to watch Lee
Beachill against James Willstrop (two of the world’s top players, both from
Pontefract, Yorkshire) I found myself wincing in sympathy. Each rally is a
mini epic, transporting the players to the outer limits of exhaustion as
they dance around each other in elaborate semicircles. It is near-
impossible to kill a rally — the harder the ball is hit, the more it seems
to bounce.
Fitness was Khan’s trump card when he was building his reputation as
the sport’s greatest player, although you would not have guessed it from the
paunch that has materialised since he became president of the World Squash
Federation in 2002 — he giggled charmingly when teased about it.
Despite his shyness, he has a warm character with none of the
neuroticism that you might expect from a sporting perfectionist who won more
than 500 consecutive matches. He duly obliged when I passed him a mobile
phone with my Pakistani father at the other end. He was in the kind of state
that my English mother would have been had David Beckham been waiting on the
line.
Although Khan is not the most cerebral leader, he is widely respected
for his commitment to the sport, stretching back to the day when he first
picked up a racket in his home village of Nawakali, near
Peshawar. He had much to live up to — his father was world No 1 — but he
surpassed all expectations, retiring in 1993 at the age of 29 with a fistful
of titles, including ten British Opens in succession.
Khan clearly enjoys the ceremony of his position and seems blissfully
unconcerned that the real power lies with Christian Leighton, the youthful
chief executive from Venezuela, who is based at the
sport’s headquarters in Hastings, East Sussex. “July 8 could change
everything,” Leighton said. “We are optimistic that we will be able to
demonstrate that we have significant advantages over our rivals, not least
that we are a truly global sport.”
This is, perhaps, an overstatement. Unlike some other so-called
minority sports, such as table tennis and badminton, squash is taken
seriously in only a handful of countries. However, the same problem afflicts
most of the other candidates — including rugby union, although do not
whisper that too loudly around these parts. Another difficulty for squash is
that it is notoriously difficult to televise effectively, despite a series
of experiments involving the ball, the scoring system and the height of the
tin.
The tragedy for squash is that insiders say that its quest for
inclusion is doomed. For any new sport to enter, one will have to be
dropped. Softball is the likeliest casualty, but in the event of its
downfall it would almost certainly be replaced by rugby sevens, not least
because that is the preferred choice of Jacques Rogge, the IOC president,
who represented Belgium in the 15-a-side version.
This would be a travesty. Squash deserves its day in the sun. It
would add to the grandeur of the Olympic experience and — call me
opportunistic — the medal tally of Great Britain. All
that lunging and leaping may even inspire viewers to lose weight. Possibly,
even, Khan himself.
BALLOT FOR BEIJING
ON JULY 8, the IOC will decide whether to drop any of the
existing 28 Olympic sports in favour of five possible replacements. No
summer Games sport has been removed since polo lost out in 1936. Squash
faces competition from:
Golf: An Olympic sport in 1900 and 1904, but would the
multimillionaire players care?
Rugby sevens: The preferred choice of Jacques Rogge, president of
the IOC.
Karate: Does the Olympics need another oriental martial art in
addition to taekwondo and judo?
Roller sports: May be a problem if players wearing hoodies are
dragged away by the police on suspicion of lacking respect.
Grima Takes Over From O’Byrne In Europe
Ireland’s Deirbhile O'Byrne has completed her maximum six year term as a Vice-President of the European Squash Federation and has been succeeded by Switzerland’s Marianne Grima, who is taking on responsibility for coaching & development, communications, media and the website. Chris Stahl and Martin Wren have been re-elected to the posts of President and Vice-President respectively. Jonas Gornerup is the other Vice-President.
Power Blasts World Champion Out Of Super Series Final
Canada's Jonathon Power secured his
36th PSA career title with a superb 3-0 victory over defending champion
Thierry Lincou in the final of The Brit Insurance
Super Series Finals at London's Broadgate Arena.
Power, the eighth seed, dominated the match from start to finish,
recording an 11/7, 11/6, 11/2 victory over the French World No1 in just 41
minutes.
The Canadian moved superbly around the court, showing no ill effects of
the knee injury he sustained in his semi-final against David Palmer last
night.
"I was really sore, but I was moving pretty easily," he said. "I was a
little bit concerned when I woke up this morning but I worked hard on trying
to get my body in the best shape possible for the match.
"I just tried to run as fast as possible and play it point by point.
The more I went on, the more comfortable I got. I was really seeing it. The
more matches I play, the bigger the ball gets."
Lincou, clearly suffering from his semi-final exertions against Lee
Beachill last night, said: "I did everything I could. Jonathon put on a lot
of pressure and played at a high pace and I couldn't really match it. I was
a little behind him. It was 3/0 in the end and he played really well but I
had a good week. I'm pretty happy but, physically, you've got limits."
It was Power's third PSA title of the year following victories at the
Apawamis Open in January and the Bermuda Masters last month. He becomes
only the third player ever to win the Super Series Finals title on more than
one occasion - following in the footsteps of four-time champion Jansher Khan
and the three-time winner, Peter Nicol.
In the battle for third place, England's Lee Beachill came out on top,
defeating the Australian no.2 seed, David Palmer, 11-9, 9-11, 11-2 in a
23-minute third place play-off.
Brit Insurance Super Series Finals
Broadgate Arena, London
Final:
Jonathon Power (Can) bt Thierry Lincou (Fra) 11-7 11-6 11-2 (41min)
Third Place Play-off:
Lee Beachill (Eng) bt David Palmer (Aus) 11-9 9-11 11-2 (23min)
Semi-finals:
Jonathon Power (Can) bt David Palmer (Aus) 6-11 11-10 (5-3) 11-6 8-11 11-10 (3-1) (100min)
Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt Lee Beachill (Eng) 6-11 11-9 5-11 11-10 (6-4) 11-3 (76min)
Nicol David Beats World Champ On Home Ground
Malaysia's Nicol David and England's
Bradley Ball survived two dramatic five-game finals of the
Mamut Dutch Open Squash Championships to lift the women's
and men's titles, respectively, in Almere.
It was a fitting climax to a memorable week for Asian superstar Nicol
David, whose career-high No3 World Ranking announced by WISPA at the
beginning of the month has been hailed in her home country as "the best ever
position by a Malaysian sportsperson".
Clearly spurred on by her new status, third seed David trounced local
heroine Vanessa Atkinson, the top seed and world champion
from The Hague, in the semi-finals to make a claim on the Dutch player's
world number two ranking!
However, in the final against fourth seed Linda Elriani
- the British national champion from England who achieved an upset over
Australian title-holder Natalie Grinham in the other
semi-final - David fell two games behind as the experienced 33-year-old
world No6 from Eastbourne took control.
But in the third game, the 21-year-old from Penang began to make her
mark, taking the ball earlier as Elriani started to show signs of fatigue.
The Netherlands-based Malaysian took the game and dictated the pace in the
fourth to force the match into a fifth-game decider.
Elriani threw everything she could into the final game, but the petite
Asian raced away from 3-3 to clinch the match, and the title, 4-9 2-9 9-3
9-3 9-3. It was David's third WISPA World Tour title of the year, and the
sixth of her career.
The men's final also featured a player buoyed by a career-best world
ranking in the latest list: Top seed Bradley Ball rose to World No24 in the
June PSA list and was eager to claim his first title of the year. His
opponent Davide Bianchetti, the fourth seed from Italy,
took the opening advantage, winning the first game after 25 minutes.
It was only seven minutes later, however, that Ball evened the score -
but in the topsy-turvy encounter, it was the Italian who won the third game
and looked likely to go on to win the title.
However, Ball is known for never giving up and fought his way back into
the match by winning the fourth game. The 28-year-old from Ipswich in
Suffolk maintained his momentum in the decider to register a 9-11 11-1 5-11
11-6 11-6 victory and claim his first Dutch Open crown, and the 11th PSA
title of his career.
Mamut Dutch Open Squash Championships
Almere, Netherlands
Men's Final Result:
[1] Bradley Ball (ENG) bt [4] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 9-11, 11-1, 5-11,
11-6, 11-6
Women's Final Result:
[3] Nicol David (MAS) bt [4] Linda Elriani (ENG) 4-9, 2-9, 9-3, 9-3, 9-3
Four Titles In Six Weeks For Boswell
Australia's former World No4 Stewart Boswell
netted his fourth PSA Tour title in six weeks when he lifted the men's
trophy in the WA Open Squash Championships in Perth,
Western Australia.
The 26-year-old from Canberra is on a comeback trail after a two-year
layoff caused by a mystery back ailment. He began his campaign in New
Zealand in April - and, in his third final as a qualifier and second against
fellow qualifier Laurence Delasaux, beat the Englishman 11-6 11-3 11-5 in
Perth to register his 22nd successive match win!
England Double In European Junior Champs
The future of English squash seems in good hands following the England's double victory over hosts Germany in the finals of the European Junior U15 & U17 Team Championships in the southern German town of Boblingen.
Defending champions and top seeds in the U17 event, England beat the second-seeded German team 2-1 in the final – while in the U15 event, England first had to overcome fellow 2/3 seeds France in the semi-finals before striking a notable upset over the top-seeded hosts in the final.
England's heroine in the U15 final was Jane Allman, the England U15 No1 from Epsom in Surrey. Beaten in a hard five-game encounter in the previous day's semi-finals, 14-year-old Allman bravely fought back from 1/2 down in games, and 4-7 down in the fourth game, to beat her higher-ranked German opponent Sharon Sinclair 9-0 6-9 3-9 9-7 9-4 in 56 minutes to clinch the title for England.
Earlier Alex Ingham, 14, from Weybridge in Surrey, had put the team into the lead with an impressive 9-5 9-5 2-9 9-3 win over the German No1 Raphael Kandra – before Germany gained a consolation point in the best-of-three 'dead rubber' when the England team captain Chris Fuller, 14, from Kettering, was pipped 9-6 5-9 9-8 by Rudi Rohrmuller in 48 minutes. It was only 24 hours earlier that Fuller, the England No2, played a 'captain's innings' when he secured the team's place in the final with a four-game win over his French opponent in the semi-final decider.
England reached the final of the U17 event without dropping a match, but were severely tested by a German team eager to provide the packed and partisan crowd with a long-awaited victory after losses to their rivals in the previous two finals. Team No1 Jim Bristow, 16, from Stone-in-Teignhead in Devon, had to be at his best to overcome a strong German No1 Norman Junge – in the third game having 12 game-balls before clinching the game, and ultimately the match 6-9 9-2 9-5 9-1 in 67 minutes.
Making her seventh appearance in different events for England was Sussex 16-year-old Rachel Willmott who clinched the title for the team with a confident and comprehensive 9-1 9-0 9-1 win in just 16 minutes over the hitherto unbeaten German girl Sina Wall. Willmott, the England captain from Horsham, enjoyed a magnificent tournament in Boblingen, conceding only ten points in three successive match victories from the quarter-final stage.
In the final best-of-three rubber, Surrey 15-year-old Joe Lee, from West Molesey, battled for 50 minutes against German Carsten Schoor – and had a match-ball in the decider - before going down 9-3 4-9 10-9.
"Both teams put in very professional and disciplined performances, they all played at the peak of their abilities, but we had to work hard for both victories," said team coach Annette Pilling. "We had the luxury of evenly-matched players in both squads and were fortunate that all the players were fit throughout the event, so we were able to put out fresh players for each tie."
End