Colin McQuillan reports for
SquashTalk from Hong Kong, Aug 24, 1999
FROM McQUILLAN'S NOTEBOOK...
A BAD DAY FOR The Aussies
© Colin McQuillan and Squashtalk, all rights reserved.
AUSTRALIAN
HOUSE OF CARDS
What looked like a set-up for Australia in the first opening round
session of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash Championship today
turned to near disaster as four of the six matches in which they had
hopeful interest went seriously wrong,
Joe Kneipp, who had crashed straight through the qualifying tournament
in promising style, went 2-1 up against Alex Gough of Wales but managed
to lose 14-15 15-13 10-15 15-11 15-5 in 71 minutes.
CHALONER
WAITS SIX DAYS FOR THIS
Craig Rowland, another qualifier who looked in good enough form to
relaunch a career that once had him regularly in semifinals of major
events, took a 2-1 lead over England's Chris Walker but still contrived
to lose 12-15 15-8 11-15 15-10 15-7 in 69 minutes. David Palmer lasted
only 62 minutes losing 15-12 15-l3 9-15 15-7 to Scotland's Martin Heath,
and Dan Jenson went down to England's Mark Chaloner 15-11 15-8 13-15
15-14 in 80 minutes....this was a significant win for Chaloner who had
been waiting for six days in Hong Kong after booking his flights on
the assumption he would have to play in the qualifying tournament and
might just make the final, "I have lost to Dan from two games up
in the past and, when he pulled back front 8-13 to 14-13 in the fourth
game, I could see it all happening again with another six day wait in
Hong Kong for the flight home as a reward," he said with some relief
after producing four fine attacking shots to secure the tiebreak.
A STRANGE
SALVATION
The day was saved for Australia by the unlikely combination of 'Bad
Boy' Anthony Hill, the most frequently disciplined player in the history
of professional squash, and 'Mad Billy' Haddrell, the barmiest bloke
ever to come out of Australia,
HILL ON
VERY BEST BEHAVIOR
Hill, who has just been fined 200 Pounds Sterling
for 'constant dissent' at the Libertel Open in Maastricht last June
and stands with 50 pounds sterling of a cumulative three year penalty
total that will put him off the PSA World Tour for at least 12 months,
easily dismissed the young Welsh Champion, David Evans, 15-13, 15-11,
15-6 in 41 minutes of uncharacteristic concentration, and left the court
actually smiling.
HADDRELL
IN ANGUISH AND DELIGHT
Haddrell, true to his bizarre form, fell two games down to Amjad Khan,
the top Pakistani in attendance since the PSA refused to grant former
World Champion Jansher Khan a wild card entry, and even attracted a
conduct warning in the third game for telling Amjad he was a "complete
bloody arsehole" for striking the balI straight at him off the
backwall.
That painful experience seemed to jolt the lanky Australian into serious
mode, however, while Amjad appeared quite put out by the verbal assault,
Haddrell began creaming the ball around the court with supreme skill,
wrong-footing his opponent with reverse angles in the front court, driving
the ball to a perfect length into the deep court, and killing with fantastic
ferocity whenever the opportunity arose. For several points in the fourth
game no rally went beyond two strokes as each player buried returns
of serve in the top nicks in a strange little competition within a competition
to see who would crack first. The outcome was a 38 minute 8-15,16-17,
15-11, 15-11, 15-11 win for Haddrell with, it must be said, Pakistan's
hope for the future looking decidedly downcast and hopeless through
the last stages of the match.
ALL THAT
TO MEET EACH OTHER...
It was inevitable on the day that these two lone Australian successes
should cancel each other out. Haddrell meets Hill in Thursday's second
round in what must become the match of the day. One of them will surely
break. Either 'Bad Boy' Hill. will snarl and complain his way to another
discipline infringement worth at least 50 Pounds Sterling or 'Mad Billy'
Haddrell will find a title even more emphatic for his opponent than
the one he applied to Amjad today.
BARADA
VOCAL GAMESMANSHIP
With the ugly Australians thus employed, the rest of the bottom half
second round matches resulting from todays action are; Gough versus
Heath, Walker versus the second-seeded Peter Nicol of Scotland, and
Chaloner versus Ahmed Barada, the Egyptian who claimed today's prize
for sheer volume greeting every successful shot in his 72 minute 15-9
9-15 15-11 8-15 15-5 win over Amr Shabana, his talented but touchy compatriot,
with huge shouts of 'Yeahhhhhh!'
POWER IN
ACTION TOMORROW
Australia manage two more self-cancelling matches in tomorrow's first
round session when former World Champion Rodney Eyles meets Stuart Boswell,
and Byron Davis meets John White, the man from Alligator Creek in Queensland
who these days lives in Amsterdam and plays for Scotland. Also on the
list tomorrow is top seeded Canadian Jonathon Power against England's
Nick Taylor, Simon Parke of England against Faheem Khan of Hong Kong,
the one wild card allowed by the PSA, Paul Price of Australia against
Omar El Borolossy of Egypt, Paul Johnson against Mark Cairns in an all-England
affair, Stefan Castelyn of Belgium against Juha Raumolin of Finland,
and Graham Ryding of Canada against Stephen Meads of England.
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