WISPA BATTLE

Vanessa and Nicol - battling it out for #1. Photo © 2006, Stocktonphotoinc

A nice battle is shaping up for the top spot in the WISPA rankings. Vanessa Atkinson has gone back on top, replacing Nicol David while Rachel Grinham is still within striking distance in third spot. After her performances in the Commonwealth Games, Grinham The Elder is still a force to be reckoned with while Grinham The Younger (Natalie) has shown that she is still improving and may yet be challenging for that top spot.

THE ATKINS/ NICOL HEAD TO HEAD STATS

                                     MATCHES         GAMES              POINTS
VANESSA ATKINSON             8                    29                    363
NICOL DAVID                       4                    18                    268

Incidentally, there are six different nationalities occupying the top seven places in the WISPA April rankings. I wonder if those amusing gentlemen who make up the International Olympic Committee have noticed? Or perhaps they still think women don’t play squash. You never know with those people.

COURT IN THE ACT – AND ACTING IN COURT
I’ve often wondered why the room where justice is supposed to take place and the space where squash and other racquet sports are played have ended up with the same name. Does the word ‘court’ derive from some ancient Greek or Latin word which indicates a place for adversarial encounters? But there is also the Royal court and the same word is used for wooing a lady. Any etymologists out there care to help?

Melissa Martin (in blue) on tour, in this case against Latasha Khan (photo © 2006 Debra Tessier.

This question popped into my idle mind when series of stories appeared, all concerning squash people deciding to start litigation against governing bodies.

In Australia Melissa Martin's non-selection for the Commonwealth Games got her reaching for her lawyer’s telephone number.

Melissa feels she should have been selected over Kasey Brown and Dianne Desira, ranked 39 and 41 respectively. Miss Martin was ranked 31. She also claims to have better singles and doubles results than both of the lower ranked players.

A Squash Australia appeals board rejected Martin's appeal, causing her to take the matter to the CAS. (Court of Arbitration for Sport ) in Sydney .

Meanwhile, an ocean away in India, the extremely talented and very beautiful Joshna Chinappa – who reached the final of the world junior champs last year in Belgium – is having trouble with the SRFI (Squash Rackets Federation of India), the personal fiefdom of our old friend N Ramachandran, the Federation’s General Secretary.
Like Miss Martin, Joshna was upset that she was not sent to the Commonwealth Games.

Joshna (in blue) (photo © 2006 Fritz Borchert.

"She could have got valuable experience by playing these well-qualified and tough competitors. I have requested the court to divest the powers of choosing an Indian team from the SRFI," said Anjan Chinnappa, Joshna's father.

But the General Secretary Ramachandran decided to send nobody to the CG claiming that none of the players would have won, and so they didn't deserve to go.

"If I had sent them and they had failed in the first or the second round, you'll be asking me why did you send her and waste the government's money?" said Ramachandran, who really has a logic all of his own. His point about wasting government money was rubbish as Joshna has her own sponsor, the Mittal Foundation.

This is not the first clash between the two parties: When she was 12 years old, the SRFI banned Joshna for 'indiscipline'. But her father took them to court and won the case. And Joshna went on to become India's top women's squash player. She still is.

Other people and parents also question the running of the SRFI saying there is no transparency and Ramachandran answers to nobody. Next thing you know, he’ll be running for president of the United States.

And now let us go to Islamabad where a coach is heading for the oak-panelled court- rooms alleging that the Pakistani SRF is also a one-man fiefdom.

Squash coach Jamshed Gul, who has been fired by the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF),has decided to challenge his termination in the court of law.

Gul told reporters here Thursday that the PSF had signed a three-year contract with him and that was still valid. “My contract with the national federation is till March 2007. My performance has also been satisfactory and I was awarded cash incentive two months ago. The PSF issued the notification of dismissal when I was aboard,” he added. He alleged that the PSF had become a one-man show and the secretary was also a non-technical person who was damaging the game of squash in the country. “I worked with the federation for two years but the PSF did not accept my single suggestion for the promotion of squash in the country, especially at the grassroots level,” he said.

Pakistan number one player Shahid Zaman, who was also present on the occasion, blamed the PSF for not providing him enough facilities for the preparation of international events. “I improved my game with the help of Gul. I was world number 34 before getting training from Gul and now I am 14th. Gul played a vital role in improving my world ranking,” he said.

To my way of thinking, there is an opening for a lawyer specializing in squash.

FINISHING AT THE TOP
Squash’s two outstanding players of the last decade, Jonathon Power and Peter Nicol, have both contrived to end their careers while still at the top. Power got back to number one spot and then immediately announced his retirment. Nicol let it be know that 2006 would be his final year on the circuit, won a couple of golds at the Commonwealth Games and then had the nerve to reach the final of the PSA Masters in Bermuda. It will be interesting to see just how many more finals Nicol reaches before the end of December. Pro squash without Nicol and Power ? I can hardly bear to contemplate such a situation.

ONG BENG HEE RIDES AGAIN
Meanwhile a player who almost disappeared from sight came back into view in Bermuda picking up some terrific wins on his way to the quarters. All of us who know Beng Hee will be delighted at his return to top form. What I would like to know is just what happened to put this delightful player off the rails. He reached number seven in the world in 2001 just two years after being ranked 75. His training partner, Peter Nicol, confidently predicted that the Malaysian would take over from him as the world champion. But suddenly Beng Hee started losing and dropped all the way down to 23 in the rakings. Some say he overtrained, that he got stale, that he no longer enjoyed the sport. But Beng Hee hung in there, still kept playing and kept coming back for more after every damaging loss to players he used to beat easily.

His persistence has paid off and he back up to number 14 in the world. And after his performance in the high points Bermuda tournament, he may even get back into the top ten. Welcome back Beng Hee.

IS THE BAD BOY NOW TOP OF THE PYRAMIDS

Shabana wins again this week - in Bermuda (photo © 2006 Fritz Borchert.

Amr Shabana was always a feisty player. Some would say cocky. So he really wasn’t flavour of the years with the Egyptian squash authorities. Shabana’s taste for role models were closer to J. Power than P. Nicol. He spoke his mind, in pretty good English too, and that also got him into trouble. Although a highly gifted player, Shabana could never string two good results together. Indeed, sometimes he couldn’t string two good games together. He would be absolutely brilliant and shoot his opponent off the court in one game and the next he would lose 15-2. To say he could go off the boil would be to understate the case. But two years ago he scythed through a world class field to win the world open – much to everybody’s surprise – specially those players who fell to his rapier racquet. The Egyptian big wigs were a little red faced – they always thought that the very well behaved Karim Darwish, former world junior champion, would fly the national flag at the top.

Shabana was highly delighted at this turn of events but his form was typically up and down until the middle of last year when he started showing signs of consistency. Then in November, again, to everybody’s surprise, he won the world open again, this time in Hong Kong. Again it was another dazzling runs beating some top ten players 3/0. His form continued into the new years and when the April rankings came out Shabana had his reward – number one ranking, replacing his good buddy Jonathon Power (retired). And just in case we all thought this was more luck, Shabana cruised through the PSA Masters in Bermuda to beat Peter Nicol in the final (for another huge pay day and another packet of ranking points that should keep him at the top for a good few months).

Now hands up all those who would have included Shabana in a list of future world champions and world number ones. Nobody? It’s OK, my hand didn’t go up either. So, Amr, you confounded us all. Congratulations.

TECHNOLOGY AND STATS FINALLY REACH SQUASH
When I was reporting on last year’s Virtual Spectator Bermuda Masters, I was agog at the technology that this New Zealand company brought to the table. The video images were as sharp as any HDTV that I have seen and their use of cameras (and infra red technology) made everything that had gone before seem basic. Now they are up and running, supplying real-time stats to ongoing matches. There are also short video clips that show just how far we have come from the low level images that Horizon used to put out on a very limited broadband basis when they started their live web-streaming three years ago. I am sure Horizon will be rapidly updating their cameras to keep up with progress. The question is: How many other minor sports get such super coverage on the net? Meanwhile, if you haven’t already, take a look by logging on to http://www.vssquash.com/squashtalk