Colin McQuillan reports for
SquashTalk from Hong Kong, Aug 27, 1999
FROM McQUILLAN'S NOTEBOOK...
Chalk and
Cheese
© Colin McQuillan and Squashtalk, all rights reserved.
Photo of Jonathon Power © 1999 Stephen Line, photo of Graham Ryding,
© 1999 Kim Tunney
The first
all Canadian Semi-final
The first all-Canadian semifinal in a major PSA World Tour event occurs
tomorrow when Graham Ryding steps out to challenge world champion Jonathon
Power for a place in the final of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open
Squash Championship.
Played
at age 13 and as sparring partners
In fact the record is cut even finer, It is the first match at such
a level between two 24-year-old Torontonians. "I have met Jonathon
in national championships and I actually beat him once in the final
of a small professional tournament in Montreal a few years back,"
said Ryding today after defeating British Champion and world number
four Paul Johnson 15-11 13-15 17-16 13-15 15-7 in a 103 minute quarterfinal.
"But I have to go back to when we were about 13 to claim a win
over him in an open semifinal."
Power gets
into the groove
Much has changed in the ensuing decade or so. Power showed, for instance,
with a 70 minute 7-15 17-16 15-8 15-5 win over Simon Parke, the world
number six from England, that he has learned the champion's trick of
sharpening his game after a longish layoff in the course of the tournament
he is trying to defend…an art perfected by Jahangir and Jansher
Khan in other times. "I could feel my strokeplay coming back into
my game as I played Simon," the world champion said. "I started
painfully today and he had a chance, just one chance, to take a two
game lead…but he blew it. From then on I was pretty relaxed. I
think I would have won even if he had made the shot that should have
clinched the second game at 14-12."
Ryding
dedicated and motivated
 Ryding
has hardly relaxed all month. He is fresh into Hong Kong from winning
two Gold Medals in the Pan American Games in Winnipeg. "After Jonathon
withdrew from the Pan Americans for personal reasons the standard was
not so high, but the singles and team event kept me on the glass showcourt
for ten days so I was straight into the groove when I got to Hong Kong
where, unusually, they play the entire tournament on two showcourts.
"Most of the guys have been resting up through the summer and
those who have been playing have been on plaster courts around the minor
tracks. As world number 14 Ryding has so far travelled the PSA Tour
in Power's shadow, in his absence reaching a semifinal of the Apawamis
Open in New York last January and the final of last year's Pakistan
Open.
Nobody knows Power's game better that the player who came up through
the Toronto junior scene with him. And with the world champion acknowledging
that this tournament is mostly for running the rust out of his game
before the World Open in Cairo next month, nobody could be better prepared
with his own form in an upswing to exploit the defects in the world
champion's game.
Barada
looks strong
In the bottom half of the Hong Kong draw the seedings survived to bring
Scotland's Peter Nicol into semifinal confrontation with Ahmed Barada
of Egypt, who withstood a 72 minute assault from Alex Gough aggressive
enough to earn the little Welsh Number One three conduct warnings.
"CHALK
AND CHEESE"
Nicol defeated 'Mad Billy' Haddrell in straight games to such good
effect that the pair played virtual exhibition squash for the delight
of the crowd through the last half of their quarterfinal.
"Peter is the player I admire most in the game, I give him total
respect, probably too much respect, I guess. But it is just so good
to be on court with someone who does everything right and brings you
into the game so much."
Heartfelt words from a man who suffered the constant nagging and whining,
and finally the temperamental storming off , of 'Bad Boy' Anthony Hill
the previous evening.
"Chalk and cheese," was Haddrell's thought about the comparison.
Results follow separately.
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