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Action Gets Underway Tomorrow
Oasis in the Desert for PSA
By Martin Bronstein © 2003; all rights of reproduction reserved.
Auguust 12, 2003 

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White has nothing to lose (photo © Debra Tessier)

John White with Nothing to Lose

The Prince English Open appears like an oasis in the desert of the current PSA circuit. It is an apt image considering England is undergoing weather that is being termed tropical with London topping 100 degrees on August
9th. You cannot buy a fan anywhere and we can only hope that the aircon in The Crucible in Sheffield can handle the temperature outside and the 700 or so humans inside.

Normally at this time of the year, the men's squash circus would be landing in Hong Kong for the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open, one of the richest -and longest running - tournaments of the year. But this year, SARS has knocked
it off the schedule and caused all kinds of headaches and panics.

To start with, or perhaps as a backgrounder, the August rankings were not one whit different from the July rankings. No tournaments, no change. But - and this is a huge but - because all the major players will have last
year's Cathay Pacific points dropping off their total, there could be some surprising shuffling come the September rankings.

Which is why the English Open has taken on such importance. In fact, I expect to witness some ferocious squash - The Crucible is a perfect time - in the next few days as the top ten fight to replace the lost points and retain - if not improve - their rankings.

Peter Nicol, the co-promoter, is firmly in place in the number one spot with a fairly healthy points margin, but as he won Hong Kong last year, he has the most to lose. He starts with a qualifier and should not be unduly concerned unless he gets Paul Price on fire and with his temper under control. As that is a rare occurrence, we can expect Nicol to face Anthony Ricketts in the quarters.

Ricketts was a losing semi-finalist in Hong Kong last year and he would like to at least make the semi-finals. A long summer break did more harm than good to this fast rising Aussie and he will have to be on top form to go through to the semis.

Jonathon Power lost a lot of valuable points after reaching the final of the Cathay Pacific last year. He was knocked out by David Palmer's racket in the world open in the semis and then took a shock defeat when Karim Darwish beat him in the second round of the PSA Masters earlier this year. These losses dropped him to number four on the PSA list. He will now lose all the points gained last August, so he will be fighting like a tiger to get back into the battle for the top spot.

Power beat David Palmer in the semis last year in Hong Kong, so Palmer too has a lot of points to lose. On top of that, his three-round, four month fight with his appendix operation and the aftermath has done very little for his confidence. It will be interesting to see if he gets back to match fitness in time. Power gets qualifier Nick Taylor in the first round and then probably faces Joe Kneipp. The chances are he will be headed for another battle with Palmer in the semis on Saturday, if the Aussie number one can get past Lee Beachill. As Beachill will be playing in front of a hall full of Yorkshireman, you can expect him to play at his best, which could put Palmer in jeopardy.

Beachill knocked out John White in the second round in Hong Kong last year,
which means the lanky Scotsman didn't earn too many points and so has little
to lose. A good result this week could see him jump past Palmer if Beachill
does pull off the upset.

I shall be in Sheffield reporting all the action for Squashtalk for the opening of the new squash season.

Final qualifying round:
Nick Taylor bt Stephen Meads 3-2 10/15 15/12 7/15 15/11 15/13 (A brutal 2hr and 5min encounter!)
Olli Tuominen bt Paul Price 3-0 15/10 17/16 15/6 (Quality 75 mins)
Adrian Grant bt Rodney Durbach 3-0 15/13 15/9 15/7 (Too strong after first)
Nick Matthew bt Peter Gennever 3-0 15/11 15/10 15/8 (Sheffield star Matthew marches on ...)

First Round Draw:
[1] Peter Nicol (ENG) v Olli Tuominen (FIN)
[5] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) v Alex Gough (WAL)
[3] John White (SCO) v Simon Parke (ENG)
[6] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v Tim Garner (ENG)
[8] Joseph Kneipp (AUS) v Nick Matthew (ENG)
[4] Jonathon Power (CAN) v Nick Taylor (Eng)
[7] Lee Beachill (ENG) v Mark Chaloner (ENG)
[2] David Palmer (AUS) v Adrian Grant (Eng)

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