Gordon Win Keys USA Near-Upset
Aug 23, 2004, By Rob Dinerman; SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004; local reporting by Chris Smith, Team Asst Coach

[Team Pool Draws/Results]   [Team Medal Draws]
U. S. under-19 champion Chris Gordon made history today in the opening round of the Team portion of the 2004 World Junior Championships. In defeating his No. 1 English counterpart, the heavily favored Chris Simpson, in four decisive games this morning, Gordon took his U. S. team to the brink of what would have been one of the most remarkable team upsets in the history of this tournament had the Americans been able to gain a split of the remaining matches.

In the end, England's depth rescued them from the momentary predicament Gordon's brilliant performance created, but Team USA (which blanked Iran three matches to love without dropping a single game this afternoon) still has a chance to graduate from the Pool segment to the Championship flight if it can win the climatic clash with Malaysia that awaits them tomorrow. The top two finishers in each of the six pools qualify for the top draw, and whoever wins between Malaysia and the U. S. will join England, the No. 3 pre-tournament seed, in that event.

Prior to today's No. 1 match, no American had ever defeated an England No. 1 in world junior competition. The power-hitting Simpson accentuated the relevance of this historical backdrop when he stormed through an opening 9-3 game. At this juncture, realizing the folly in trying to out-hit his European rival and demonstrating a level of in-match adaptability that is rare for a player of Gordon's young age, he slowed down the pace, resulting in more accurate depth and ball placement for himself and inducing impatience (and eventually a number of tins) from his increasingly exasperated opponent, who was unable to reclaim the momentum at any stage of the eyebrow-raising 9-4, 6 and 5 turnaround.

Flushed with the excitement of the unforeseen early advantage Gordon's heroics had given them, and buoyed by the massive crowd that suddenly materialized around their court (including the U. S. ambassador to Pakistan!) due to the possibility of what would have been an amazing team upset, Suleyman Saleem and Joe Raho went on court against England's Tom Wright and James Wright respectively in search of that coveted additional team point. It was not to be, however, as the two young Brits decisively rose to the exigencies of the moment, winning in each case with the loss of only two official points in the nine-point scoring and restoring normalcy to the situation just when it appeared to be on the verge of veering out of England's control.
Gordon, Raho and Garnett Booth (the U. S. No. 2 who sat out the England match after being ill for two days, a decision that might have cost the Americans their best chance for the upset) all handily despatched their Iranian counterparts while Malaysia (a 3-0 winner over Iran as well) fell 3-0 against England. Tomorrow's match against Malaysia will be the defining match for the U. S.

in terms of determining the success of their entire tournament, and it will be interesting to see whether Gordon can duplicate the extraordinary level he reached this morning under the pressured conditions that will surround the Malaysia match.

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