SquashTalk >Cathay Pacific 2002, Hong Kong, China > First Half First Roud Report

Cathay Pacific 2002

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SquashTalk reports from Hong Kong with Colin McQuillan

Tournament reports last updated 28-aug-02 13:45

• 2002 Cathay Pacific Current Draw

NORTH AMERICAN LOSS
North American hopes from the first day of first round action in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Championship rested upon Canada's Graham Ryding, who had a goodish straight games win over England's Peter Genever in the qualifying finals at the Hong Kong Squash Centre but failed by just about the same margin to come to terms with John White of Scotland today.

White, the big-hitting Australian born and trained player who switched registration to Scotland on his father's antecedents only to find himself barred from the Commonwealth Games in Manchester earlier this month because he resettled in Nottingham. England, rather than Scotland, was just about the only good news his new country managed today. He won 15-12 15-12 15-13 in 43 minutes to reach a second round against Lee Beachill, the British National Champion.

MARTIN HEATH OUTPLAYED BY DARWISH
But the very first match on court today produced an upset of breakthrough proportions similar to those last year when Peter Nicol, still nominally Scottish in those days, was beaten in the first round by the then unranked Thierry Lincou of France. That was win so much against expectations that it launched Lincou on a rise to world number four on the latest list.

This time it was Karim Darwish, Egypt's world junior champion who has just entered the senior top 20 for the first time, who produced the upset performance beating Scotland's ninth seeded Martin Heath 15-9 15-5 16-17 15-11 in 55 minutes of such front court domination that the experienced Heath could only admit afterwards that he was comprehensively outplayed.

"Karim is one of those who plays with the heart rather than the head, while I tend to play from the head rather too much," Heath explained. "While I was trying to put into practice my well thought out game plan to expose his relatively weaker backhand play, he just went on court and played squash. I was two games down before I got any sort of handle on the game."

To make Scottish matters worse, Nicol, who earlier this month collected a Commonwealth Games Gold Medal for England, his new country of registration, playing in the doubles with Lee Beachill, went out as top seed again today and beat a rather more established Egyptian, Omar El Borolossy, 17-14 15-11 15-8 in 46 minutes.

Beachill followed up by beating another rising Egyptian, Mohammed Abbas, 13-15 17-15 15-5 15-6 in 47 minutes. Nicol will meet Australia's Joe Kneipp, a 62 minute 16-17 15-13 15-7 15-8 winner over the 15th seeded David Evans of Wales, while in the next quarter Darwish goes to Stewart Boswell of Australia and Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia plays Mansoor Zaman of Pakistan; all at the expense of fancied English players.

MANSOOR IMPRESSIVE IN THE CLUTCH
Zaman's win particularly carries longer term implications. Walker is the oldest player on the PSA World tour at 36 years-of-age. His start against Zaman, the great hope of a Pakistan scene so bare of world class talent that the legendary Jansher Khan has been tempted to announce a comeback attempt, was typically fast paced and inventive. But the fact that the son of former British Open winner Qamar Zaman lost the opener by a single point in a tiebreak and then took the second on a similar tiebreak before going on to wrap things up 16-17 17-15 15-9 15-10 in 52 minutes suggests that his match temperament is hardening as Walker's physical resources finally start to look finite.

Zaman's second round match against Ong Beng Hee, who put out the vastly experienced Del Harris of England 15-4 7-15 15-6 15-12 in 44 minutes, could be a prelude for the Asian Games final likely to mature in South Korea next month, which in turn could become a key to future domination of Asian squash and Jansher's continuing ambition to come back as a Pakistani rescuing hero.

Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Hong Kong Squash Centre First Round Results: Peter Nicol (Eng) bt Omar El Borolossy (Egy) 17-14 15-11 15-8
Joe Kneipp (Aus) bt David Evans (Wal) 16-17 15-13 15-7 15-8
JohnWhite (Scot) bt Graham Ryding (Can) 15-12 15-12 15-13
Lee Beachill (Eng) bt Mohammed Abbas (Egy) 13-15 17-15 15-5 15-6
Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt Nick Taylor (Eng) 13-15 115-10 15-7 15-8
Karim Darwish (Egy) bt Martin Heath (Scot) 15-9 15-5 16-17 15-11
Ong Beng Hee (Mas) bt Del Harris (Eng) 15-4 7-15 15-6 15-12
Mansoor Zaman (Pak) bt Chris Walker (Eng) 16-17 17-15 15-9 15-10

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