Price, Durbach Qualify for BCE Place Appearances
November 14, 2004, Martin Bronstein Live From Toronto; © 2004 Squashtalk, all rights of reproduction reserved.

[PACE Canadian Classic with Martin Bronstein] ... TORONTO, November 14, 2004 --       

Joey Barrington lost in a long five games but was the "lucky loser" - placed into the draw after withdrawal of David Plamer photo © 2004 Debra Tessier.

BARRINGTON RIDES THE ROLLER COASTER
Joe Barrington today experienced the sort of emotional roller coaster that he could well do without. He and fellow Englishman Jonathon Kemp battled for nearly 80 minutes for one of the four places in the first round of the 2004 edition of the Canadian Classic.

The fifth game went into a tie-break and as Barrington was about to serve for the match Kemp noticed some blood on his knee. He called the referee’s attention to it and so, abiding by the rules, he left the court to dress the wound. Nobody quite knows how Kemp acquired this less-than-life-threatening scratch, but the bleeding had to be stopped and the wound covered. Sadly Florence Nightingale was not in evidence, nor come to that was any proper bandages and so all manner of things were tried including some tape which, as soon as Kemp flexed his knee, broke.

Lee Beachill, ever the pro, produced a dressing that was suitable for a sweaty, hairy leg, and so after about eight minutes Kemp returned to the court and proceeded to win the final game after the score had climbed to 16-14.
Barrington surely cussed his way all the way back to the locker rooms and his hotel room. But Hold! What good bird of fortune flies through yonder window? Why, prithee dear sir, tis the good bird Lucky Loser! Bless our collective souls: David Palmer had pulled out at the last minute with an injured shoulder and so a gap appeared in the draw. Denis Goodfellow, the pro at the Fitness Institute for the last 14 years, held up the box with the names of the losers and Mike Reilly, former real tennis player and now much lauded squash referee (International class and still awaiting his first WSF assignment) pulled out a piece of paper with the name of Joey Barrington on it.

So Jonah’s little boy will be getting a cheque after all. He faces Graham Ryding in the first round and the eager young Barrington could make life very hard for the Canadian.

HEATH BLOW UP AND BOWS OUT
Martin Heath, the Scot who now resides in Toronto is dark of hair with black eyes that get blacker when the ire rises in his throat. You can almost see the blood draining from his brain into his pounding temples, which produces results on the squash court he would rather forget about.

He started his final qualifying match with Rodney Durbach, ranked three places above him at 30 in the PSA list, in perfect harmony with the elements and ran to a 10-2 lead ready to blow the South African all the way back to the veldt. But then the referee made a decision – not a bad one – which Heath felt was unfair to him. It was then the demons started to squat in his brain, hindering his performance and allowing Durbach to take five points in a row. As Durbach made his catchup run Heath became more unsettled and with each lost point, the eyes became darker. He stopped the rot with a fine cross court to near perfect length and saved the game 11-7.

He came out for the second seemingly back in control and quickly ran to 7-0 lead with Durbach unable to do anything about Heath’s constant insistance on front court play where he is very good. But then the demons returned and suddenly Heath lost it completely and it was now Durbach who controlled the play picking up points at an alarming rate to finally stand at game ball 10-9 which is when Heath made a series of highly unflattering remarks. One of them went too far for the referee’s liking and Heath was penalised a conduct stroke to give Durbach the game 11-9. That was too much for Heath, who left the court white with anger calling the refereeing bullshit and saying “I’m, not coming back.” It took some hard persuading from friends for Heath to get over his sulks, but even then he was 15 seconds late coming back on – an infringement which the referee shrewdly chose to ignore.

But the crazy thing is he came back full of resolve – probably fuelled by fury - and simply wiped Durbach away 11-3 in about eight minutes to lead 2/1. And just as crazily that resolve dissolved – it were as though Heath had a switch in head which he could turn on and off at will. Durbach took the fourth game 11-5 and the final game 11-1 with very little effort from Heath. So Durbach was through and Heath went home to a sleepless night.

KOUKAL TO CHECK OUT?
Jan Koukal – the first good player to come out of the Czech Republic – played a blinder yesterday in knocking out the on-form Simon Parke, but seemed to lose his drive when faced with the near faultless squash of young Peter Barker who is ranked 31 in the world. Koukal spent much of the match giving the referee quizzical stares, but it was obvious that after the first game, his heart really wasn’t in it. Barker took charge in the second and never let go to take the match 11-4, 11-6, 11-4.

“I beat Jan last month the Hungarian Open by the same score 3/0. I was a bit surprised because I watched him beat Parkie yesterday and Jan was playing superbly. I don’t know why I beat him or why he can’t handle my game,” Barker admitted candidly after the victory. He will meet the sixth seed Joe Kneipp in the first round.

When I asked Koukal to tell me what happened, he just shrugged his shoulders and said: “I’m not really interested in squash anymore. I started studying public relations at University in September and I really can’t see myself playing squash for a living.”

As we spoke it was obvious that a goodly part of his reason for feeling this way was homesickness.

“I really want to spend more time in Prague with my friends. Last year I spent three months playing every possible tournament and I don’t want to do it anymore. I won’t give up playing, but I shall just play a few tournaments. Also I am alone on the tour. The English players have each other for company, but I am the only Czech player, so I feel I am all by myself.’

To put it mildly this a strange reaction from a player who has just beaten Simon Parke.

POWER READY TO QUIT?
But Koukal may not be alone in tiring of the traveling. As I walked down Yonge Street, Toronto’s main drag, today I saw this scruffy guy coming towards me. He was accompanied by a very attractive lady who was beautifully dressed. As they got within ten yards, I took a second look at him and he took a second look at me.
“Hey Jon.” “Hey Martin”. Jonathon Power looked tired and worn out; his expression was flat and his voice lacking any real enthusiasm. We exchanged pleasantries and I asked his wife Sita (for that who the woman) was whether he had been behaving. She said “I just got in from Montral, so I don’t know.”

Then I picked up a copy of Canada’s National Post newspaper and there in the sports section was a full page article on Power headed “Powering Down”.
Power told writer Michael Traikos that all the traveling was getting to him.
“It’s been in the last 18 months that I just haven’t been able to keep going.I’ve been getting injured too much, the long flights are killing me and my body’s just not responding.”

Power has a tough first round draw – facing the upwardly mobile James Willstrop. Of the new breed Power is quoted as saying:

“These new guys are hungry and I’m just trying to hang on. It’s a different kind of mentality. When you’re going up it’s really fun. You just want to beat the next guy and go on to the next guy. It gets a lot tougher when you’re older and trying to motivate yourself just to keep playing.”

Phew!

First round qualifying:
Paul Price(Aus) bt Guiffre (Can) 11-8, 11-8, 11-8.
Laurens Anjema (Neth) bt David Philips (Can) 11-9, 11-8, 11-7.
Joey Barrington (Eng) bt Shawn DeLierre (Can) 10-11, 11-6, 11-3, 7-11, 11-7.
Jonathan Kemp (Eng) bt Shahier Razik (Can) 11-9, 8-1ll, 11-9, 11-3.
Rodney Durbach(RSA) bt Gavin Jones (Wal) 11-10, 11-9, 4-11, 11-3.
Martin Heath (Sco) bt Aaron Francombe (Can) 11-2, 11-7, 11-8.
Peter Barker (Eng) Ian Power (Can) 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4.
Jan Koukal (Cze) bt Simon Parker (Eng) 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-3.

FINAL QUALIFYING ROUND
Paul Price bt Laurens Anjema 11-6, 11-10, 6-11, 11-8.
Rodney Durbach bt Martin Heath 7-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-5, 11-1.
Jonathan Kemp bt Joey Barrington 9-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-10 (6-4)
Peter Barker bt Jan Koukal 11-4, 11-6, 11-4.