Nicol, Power cruise through;

Old guard takes hits in second round

31.8.00. FROM COLIN McQUILLAN IN HONG KONG

OLD GUARD SHAKES
IThe old guard of the PSA World Tour took a serious shaking at the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash Championship today as a group of thrusting qualifiers managed to project two of their number into major quarter-finals for the first time.

The top seeds, Peter Nicol of Scotland and Jonathon Power of Canada, eased predictably through to meet respectively the unexpected challenges of England's Mark Chaloner and Scotland's John White.

But third seeded Ahmed Barada stopped when 0-2 and 1-7 down to Stewart Boswell, fifth seeded Martin Heath fell defensively to Chaloner 15-9 11-15 17-15 15-5 in 70 minutes, seventh seeded Anthony Hill hardly bothered to raise a game against White, and eighth seeded Del Harris contrived to lose 5-15 6-15 15-11 15-4 15-7 in 73 minutes to Anthony Ricketts from a lead of 2-0 and 11-9.

Boswell and Ricketts are young Australian qualifiers making their first entries into a Super Series main draw. The Boswell so completely bossed the opening games of his second round encounter with Barada that the 23-year-old Egyptian suddenly stopped in the third game, clutched his stomach and walked off the court.

"We think it is sickness," said his coach, Hesham El Attar, rather unsurely. Ricketts, in contrast, took over the court from the experienced Harris as the English 31-year-old faltered toward the end of their third game. "There is too much time wasting going on in this match," the Australian youngster told the referee, Tony Choi, sternly as Harris repeatedly asked for the court floor to be wiped and late in the fifth game requested time out to change his sweat-soaked shoes. "This is an absolute disgrace," Ricketts declared.

More disgraceful was the lack of effort once more displayed in a major event by Anthony Hill, a player whose world number seven ranking remains a mystery to those who cannot fathom a mathematical system that keeps in the top ten a man who has not beaten any player but Ireland's Derek Ryan in the last five Super Series events and has failed to justify his seeding since the Tournament of Champions in New York last February.

Hill went down for a handful of points after just 18 minutes of play, later claiming like Barada to be suffering stomach sickness. Greater effort by far was shown by Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee, another first time qualifier in the main draw, who pressed sixth seeded Paul Johnson to two tiebreak games before narrowly losing the right to meet Boswell 15-12 14-17 15-12 15-14 in 82 minutes, and by England's Simon Parke and Peter Marshall who gave the audience almost an hour of wondrous rallying squash in the last match of the day before the fourth seeded Parke advanced 15-8 17-15 15-8 to meet Ricketts.

• First round, first half 7-30 (Squashtalk)
• Nicol confident 7-29 (SCMP)
• Barada relaxed, ready 7-29 (SCMP)
• Power confirms Cathay entry 7-28
• Power and Barada at loggerheads 7-25

Power and Hill in Action (© 2000 Squashtalk file photo, Vaughn Winchell)

Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash Championship Second Round Results:
Peter Nicol (Scot) bt Alex Gough (Wal) 15-6 12-15 15-8 15-7
Mark Chaloner (Eng) bt Martin Heath (Scot) 15-9 11-15 17-15 15-5
Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt Ahmed Barada (Egy) 15-9 15-5 7-1 ret.sick
Paul Johnson (Eng) bt Ong Beng Hee (Mal) 15-12 14-17 15-12 15-14
Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt Del Harris (Eng) 5-15 6-15 15-11 15-4 15-7
Simon Parke (Eng) bt Peter Marshall (Eng) 15-8 17-15 15-8
John White (Scot) bt Anthony Hill (Aus) 15-9 15-5 15-9
Jonathon Power (Can)bt David Palmer (Aus) 15-12 15-4 15-3

Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash Championship First Round Results -second half
Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt David Evans (Wal) 15-10 15-5 15-5
Del Harris (Eng) bt Amjad Khan (Pak) 15-9 15-11 15-10
Peter Marshall (Eng) bt Nick taylor (Eng) 7-15 15-12 17-14 15-10
Simon Parke (Eng) bt Dan Jenson (Aus) 15-8 15-8 15-12
John White (Sco) bt Rodney Eyles (Aus) 5-15 15-7 15-9 15-9
Anthony Hill (Aus) bt Derek Ryan (Ire) 17-16 15-11 15-10
David Palmer (Aus) bt Billy Hadddrell (Aus) 15-5 15-9 15-8
Jonathon Power (Can) bt Faheem Khan (HK) 15-1 15-11 15-6

First Round Results - first half
Peter Nicol (Scot) bt Joe Kneipp (Aus) 12-15 15-6 15-7 15-5
Alex Gough (Wal) bt Amr Shabana (Egy) 17-14 15-11 15-8
Martin Heath (Scot) bt Omar El Borolossy (Egy) 15-9 15-10 15-10
Mark Chaloner (Eng) bt Shamsul Islam Khan (Pak) 15-10 15-10 15-4
Ahmed Barada (Egy) bt Stefan Casteleyn (Bel) 15-9 15-11 13-15 15-10
Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt Graham Ryding (Can) 17-14 12-15 15-17 15-3 15-3
Paul Johnson (Eng) bt John Williams (Aus) 15-11 15-4 15-8
Ong Beng Hee (Mal) bt Thierry Lincou (Fra) 7-15 15-9 7-15 15-11 15-7

• Golestan Radwan: Egypt
• Tomas Barva, Czech Republic
• David Blick, Alaska USA
• Kim Tunney: Midwest USA
• Andre Maur: Atlanta USA
• Paul Ansdell: Massachusetts USA
  

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