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/Heliopolis 2001

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Power Bulls his way Through; El Borolossy falls short.

by Colin McQuillan, Sept 6 2001

Egyptian hopes of a mass replacement for Ahmed Barada in the Al Ahram International Championship quarter-finals came to naught in Cairo tonight. For the first time in the six year history of the event, there will be no home players in the later stages of the event as it plays out on an open-air showcourt under the shadow of the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Peter Nicol, the world champion, put paid to the most mature replacement bid from Omar El Borolossy, the man who seemed almost to step aside for the now retired Barada when leading him in a world junior final in Christchurch, New Zealand, and has been playing in his shadow never since. A tall and elegant gentleman of a player, especially when compared to Barada's rough-house approach, El Borolossy is married to Egypt's first lady of squash, the former Salma Shabana, who is rumoured to be pregnant with their first child. His hopes of adding a breakthrough against the world champion to this domestic idyll, however, faded after a spirited fightback from 7-11 to 14-14 was smothered in a smooth and confident three-point tie-break from Nicol and the chance ran away 17-14 15-6 15-9 in 52 minutes.

SALMA SKIRTS SUCCESS
Salma's brother Amr Shabana seemed close to success later in the evening when he fought back from 1-2 down against Martin Heath and stood at 9-12 in the fifth, but the experience of the man who had his finest moment on this court beating Nicol to reach the 1998 final against Barada held him off at the end of 78 minutes.

The young world junior champion, Karim Darwish, would be the perfect character to rekindle Egyptian enthusiasm after Barada's strangely protracted withdrawal from the game (he has not even shown his face at this tournament which was designed for his home town to celebrate his international success) but Darwish met Australia's Stewart Boswell in particularly mature mood, with former world champion Rodney Martin in the corner behind him, and after edging the first game on a three point tiebreak had to concede 15-17 15-12 15-11 15-9 in 69 minutes.

GIZA CROWDS
All of this action took place on the floor of the Giza Desert in front of a large and appreciative audience. It will be interesting to see if a completely overseas quareter-final field attracts the same sort of huge noisy crowds that have bussed into the desert in previous years to see the Cairo boys in action.

Earlier in the day at the National Stadium the fourth promising Egyptian youngster, Mohammed Abbas, went down at the end of 90 long and gruelling minutes to Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia 13-15 15-13 15-17 15-12 15-6. Seventh seeded Ong looked severely depleted from the effort of containing a gifted shotmaker on his home centrecourt. It is debatable whether the young Malaysian will raise a true gallop tomorrow against Nicol, with whom he trains in London and is sharing a room in Cairo.

And there is a big semi-final in the offing against either David Palmer, the young Australian who took over the world number one spot this month and defeated Paul Johnson 6-15 15-10 15-10 15-11 in 70 minutes today, or John White, the former Australian who took over the Scottish number one spot upon Nicol's defection south of the border and today beat Chris Walker 15-9 15-12 15-2 in 39 minutes.

WALKER CAN'T RECAPTURE THE MOMENT
Walker, who famously outlasted the big-hitting White in his first appearance for Scotland in a vital European Team Championship, had little resistance today to a man who probably presents the ball more fiercely than any player since Pakistan's Hiddy Jahan was in full force. Johnson played well and positively against Palmer, but the new world number one has made his way with utter consistency to the last five major finals, winning the British Open and the Hong Kong Open along the way. He was not about to change his rhythm for the England number five.

CHALONER COASTS
In the bottom half of the draw Mark Chaloner, the new world number seven eased into the quarter-final against Boswell with a 60 minute 15-9 15-8 15-10 win over the fourth seed, Paul Price of Australia, whose mind appeared to be on other things today as the Englishman levelled a forceful and accurate attack against him. Heath goes to meet the second seeded Jonathon Power in the quarter-finals after the Canadian bulled his way past Thierry Lincou of France 15-4 15-5 15-12 in 50 minutes.

LINCOU'S EGYTIAN DAYS CAN'T HELP
Lincou, who trained in Cairo for some weeks on his way back from a broken hand, had been looking to add Power's scalp to his comeback list after beating Nicol in the first round of the Hong Kong Open and winning the Milo Challenge in Johannesburg, and the word was that Power, who has not won since April on the tour and fell out of the Hong Kong Open with tonsillitis, was a touch nervous at the prospect. With a slightly naive local referee who seemed prepared to give Power lets on demand, Lincou was repeatedly blocked in the front court and deprived of points from backhand winners in the deep court. Next time around, with a different official, Power might find reason to be nervous again.

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