by Martin Bronstein reporting from Egypt, Aug 18 2000 © 2000 squashtalk

EYLES GOES OUT IN SHOCK RESULT.

CAIRO EXCLUSIVE TO SQUASHTALK Former world number three Rodney Eyles of Australia was knocked out in the first qualifying round of the Al Ahram International Championships in Cairo.

Eyles, ranked 25 could have expected to be in the main 32 man draw (24 top ranked plus eight qualifiers) with the absence of Paul Price and Amjad Khan, but the organisers used their wild card option to put Karim Darwish (ranked 49) and Amr Shabana (29) directly into the main draw.

They are both astonishingly gifted players and deserve that favour. Darwish is the new world junior champion and expects to reach the quarterfinals. To do this he will have to beat Anthony Hill and probably world number four Simon Parke. That's not going to be easy.

ONG GETS BONGED
Former world junior champion Ong Beng Hee was another shock exit, being beaten by England's Nick Matthew after a mammoth five game struggle. They last met on these courts four years ago in the world junior championship when Beng HEE knocked Matthew out.

DAZZLING DAYS
This Al Ahram tourney is a deazzling way to start the season. Every top player is here from the PSA (except Price and Khan) and the 32 top Wispa list is missing just Tegwyn Malik (ranked 17) Liz Irving (20), Janie Thacker (22) and Shabana Khan (23). The Men are playing for $60,000 and the women $30,000. But it is the place to be. As Peter Nicol said in his Squashtalk Interview, "It's every professional's dream place to play."

IS FITZ FIT?
The first interest in the main draws will be the second round clash between British Open Champion Leilani Joyce of New Zealand and former number one, Sarah Fitz-Gerald, the player who, with Michelle Martin, dominated the women's game for almost ten years until a knee injury last year put her career on hold. After one false start - which showed she had lost none of her supremacy- Sarah is back again and feared by all.

PARKE, NICOL OR POWER
There are a lot of questions in the Men's draw: Is Power fit? Can Parke reproduce his Super Series form ? Has Nicol improved his short game yet again? Can Martin Heath produce another upset ? Is Ahmed Barada back to form? Under the beautiful warmth of the Egyptian sun (Hot? Naaah!) after the miserable British summer Cairo is not a bad place to be for the squash fan. First round matches take place in the air-conditioned Cairo Stadium and on Monday switch to the cool evenings beside the Pyramids. If all the phone lines work, you'll read all about it here. . al Ahram International Championships

2000 QUALIFYING FIRST ROUND RESULTS.
Mohammed Medhat (Egy) bt Rodney Eyles (Aus) 15-9, 15-8, 15-11.
Ahmed Faizy (Egy) bt Hesham Ashour (Egy) 15-11, 15-7, 15-12.
Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt Omar Refaat (Egy) 15-3, 15-2, 15-7.
Juha Raumolin (Finland) bt Yasser El Halaby (Egy) 13-15, 15-7, 15-10, 15-10.
Stefan Casteleyn (Bel) bt Ahmed Mohsen (Egy) 15-7, 15-4, 15-4.
Renan Lavigne (Fra) bt Sherif Kamal (Egy) 15-9, 15-5, 15-0.
Olli Tuominen (Fin) bt Wael El Hindi (Egy) 15-7, 11-15, 15-12, 7-15, 15-11.
Mohammed Essam (Egy) bt Anthony Ricketts 13-15, 15-14, 17-14, 13-15, 15-6.
John Williams (Aus) bt Mike Corren (Aus) 13-15, 15-7, 15-3 ret.
Lee Beachill (Eng) bt Karim El Mistikawi (Egy) 15-11, 15-8, 15-7.
Dan Jenson (Aus) bt Amr Sweilam Egy) 15-5, 15-7, 15-11.
Peter Genever (Eng) bt Mostafa Essam (Egy) 15-11, 15-8, 15-1.
Byron Davis (Aus) bt Mohamed Ismael (Egy) 15-8, 15-9, 15-9.
Mohammed Abbas (Egy) bt Rodney Durbach (RSA) 15-13, 9-15, 15-8, 17-15.
Nick Matthew (Eng) bt Ong Beng Hee (Mal) 11-15, 15-13, 15-12, 7-15, 15-9.
Tommy Berden (Neth) bt Tony Hands (Eng) 15-9, 10-15, 15-8, 15-12.

• 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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