Commonwealth
Games 2002:
Men's Draw
Women's Draw
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2002 Commonwealth Games Preview

by Martin Bronstein in London, July 24 2002

[last update was 5-aug-02 ]

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU THROW TEA INTO THE HARBOR?
If the Americans had taken a kindlier view of King George and not got all Bolshie in Boston a couple of hundred years back, there would be 73 countries taking part in the Commonwealth Games which start in Manchester, England in a couple of days. As it is, the Games will go ahead with just 72 participating countries and the Americans will just have to be content with the Pan Am Games in a couple of months. Mind you, if I had the choice between participating in the Commonwealth Games or getting rid of a monarchy, well….

EMPIRE? WHAT EMPIRE?
These are the 17th Games, which used to be called the Empire Games (as in British Empire)…but then when Empire became a rude word in the second half of the 20th century, the name was changed. The fact that parts of the Empire were lost or were crumbling with age and tradition may have been another factor. But to hell with history, let's get to t he sport.

SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING AND LAWN BOWLS. SPORT?
Women swimming upside down with pegs on their nose is an Olympic sport so why not Commonwealth? Why not horseshoe tossing? Hula-hooping? Diving for pennies? Ducking for apples? (Dorothy Parker once said of the last named: 'There, but for one consonant, is the story of my life'). Synchronised swimming is still a joke and I hope that the new Olympic boss gets rid of it as fast as possible, together with beach volleyball.

Lawn Bowls is redolent of the Empire: old people in white clothes gently gliding balls down beautifully manicured lawns while drinking Darjeeling from bone china. It has nothing to do with bowling (knocking down skittles), more to do with curling. Rugby and Judo are also listed in the 20 odd sports, but we all know that most of the television and press space will be taken up with the running and jumping.

AND SQUASH
Squash makes it second appearance in the Games, as will both Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power. There will be players from 24 countries competing in the singles competition, but once more the focus will be on the Nicol/Power rivalry.

Nicol beat the charismatic Canadian in the final four years ago in Kuala Lumpur and they are my favourites to meet again in the final. My money is on Power who has won everything but a Commonwealth gold and earlier this year was creaming everybody, including Nicol who has lost in their last three meetings.

In the British Open Power was fitter than I've ever seen him and was willing to stay on court for hours with any player who cared to test him. Perhaps he was too fit and flaunted his newfound fitness at the expense of his flair. John White outlasted him to win in five only to lose in three to Nicol in the final. I think Power wants this gold medal badly and is willing to work for it.

Nicol put his recent losses down to a lack of conditioning and has spent the last six weeks putting in real hard work in training, keen to be at the top of his form, while Power worryingly had to withdraw from the Super Series finals with a glute problem. White, of course, has been disbarred from playing for Scotland because he does not fulfil the residential qualifications. Since his switch from Australian status, White has never lived in Scotland, while Nicol, switching from Scotland to England, had no problem, having lived in England since he was 18, where he trained under David Pearson and then Neil Harvey.

IS IT A TWO MAN RACE?
There is a full 64 man draw for the men (only 32 for the women) but just three or four players who are capable of perhaps causing upsets. Nicol must be thankful that his latterday nemesis Lee Beachill is in the bottom half of the of the draw with Power, as is fourth seed Stewart Boswell of Australia. Nicol shares the top half with third seed David Palmer and sixth seed Ong Beng Hee, but I don't think he will be losing any sleep despite losing to Palmer in the final of the Super Series finals. Power too, has never lost to Boswell of Beachill and must fancy his chances of a gold medal .

IS IT A ONE WOMAN RACE?
Even with the return of Leilani Joyce of New Zealand, I cannot see Sarah Fitz-Gerald coming away without gold. None of the next four or five seeds have shown anywhere near the consistency needed to beat her despite all of them being wonderfully talanted. With a predictable set of semis - Fitz-Gerald vs Joyce and Cassie Jackman versus second seed Carol Owens - I'm afraid there is simply not a lot of excitement in the women's game. I do hope I'm wrong and a couple of second rankers pull of some big upsets. Whatever happens at England Squash's new squash centre in Manchester starting on Friday, I shall be there to send nightly reports to Squashtalk. Stay logged.

Men's singles draw:
[1] Peter Nicol (ENG) bye Nicholas Kyme (BER) v Damien Tan (PNG)
[9] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bye James Bullock (JAM) v Herath Mudiyanselage (SRI)
[6] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v bye Neil Frankland (SCO) v TBA
[16] Graham Ryding (CAN) v Ernest Chisenga (ZAM) Farrukh Zaman (PAK) v Kaebetsoe Monnapula (LES)
[3] David Palmer (AUS) bye
Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) v Gabe Rabess (DMA)
[11] Alex Gough (WAL) v Murray Martin (ZIM)
Shahier Razik (CAN) v Rasdeep Bains (KEN)
[7] Martin Heath (SCO) bye
Gavin Jones (WAL) v Baitsi Motsamai (LES)
[10] Chris Walker (ENG) v Wayne Prescod (JAM)
Gareth Webber (GUE) v Robby Lingashi (ZAM )
Shamsul Islam Khan (PAK) v Charles Sonson (LCA)
[12] Paul Price (AUS) v Derek Hunter (PNG)
Steve Richardson (NIR) v Luke Fraser (GUY)
[5] Mark Chaloner (ENG) bye
Kelvin Ho (MAS) v Patrick Chifunda (ZAM) [15]
Shahid Zaman Khan (PAK) v Thomas Sherratt (BER)
Chris Simpson (GUE) v Navin Samarasinghe (SRI)
[4] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bye
Hartaj Bains (KEN) v James Bentick (SVG)
[13] David Evans (WAL) v BK Taoana (LES)
Moh'd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) v Garfield Wiltshire (GUY)
[8] Lee Beachill (ENG) bye
Scott Fitzgerald (WAL) v Jesse Engelbrecht (ZIM) [14]
Mansoor Zaman (PAK) v Regan Pollard (GUY)
Michael Hopkins (JER) v Lentsoe Monnaoula (LES)
[2] Jonathon Power (CAN) bye

Women's singles draw:
[1] Sarah Fitz-Gerald (AUS) bye
[14] Sharon Wee (MAS) v Alana Simmons (LCA)
[6] Stephanie Brind (ENG) bye
[15] Wendy Maitland (SCO) v Robyn Cooper (AUS)
[4] Leilani Joyce (NZL) bye
[11] Nicol David (MAS) v Lindy-Ann Alexander (LCA)
[8] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v Karen Anderson (JAM) [10]
Pamela Nimmo (SCO) v Naluge Guy (PNG)
[9] Natalie Grinham (AUS) v Carla Khan (PAK) [5]
Linda Charman (ENG) bye [12]
Shelley Kitchen (NZL) v Margo Green (CAN)
[3] Cassie Jackman (ENG) bye
[16] Melanie Jans (CAN) v Marlene West (JAM)
[7] Tania Bailey (ENG) bye
[13] Madeline Perry (NIR) v Nicolette Fernandes (GUY)
[2] Carol Owens (NZL) bye .

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