AL-AHRAM INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
EVENING SESSION

CAIRO EXCLUSIVE TO SQUASHTALK From Martin Bronstein at the Pyramids

HEATH GETS SHABANA'D
[SHABANA:verb. Hoodwink with a squash racket. (New Egyptian) Not yet in
Websters.] Sorry about the etymology but somebody has to coin.

Really, this second round has been a day of upsets. You could reasonably expect Martin Heath, the world number five, a "black Scotsman" (black hair, black shirt, black shorts, black shoes) with a penchant for Czech beer, who loves the Pyramid court ( because he beat Peter Nicol here two years ago to reach the final), to beat a 22 year old arriviste by the name of Amr Shabana, ranked 29 in the world.

Well, he didn't and Shabana, who is rapidly gaining the same sort of idolization as Barada, earned his quarter-final berth by reason of courage, skill, audacity and imagination, the same adjectives I use about Heath when he?s on song. And he was for much of the match, but Shabana, urged on by the biased (wouldn?t you be?) crowd finally won the match point after some of the finest farce I have seen in years.

MORE ERRORS THAN NICKS
I promised yesterday I would count the nicks. In the first game there were seven from Shabana and two from Heath. Trouble was there were just as many errors. Heath won that first game but it was not indicative of any sort of advantage. Shabana came out for the second hitting nicks and winners to run to a 7-0 lead and then 9-3, Heath recovered to 5-9, but Shabana was flying and Heath didn't have a chance as Shabana evened the match, 15-6.

PRAISE DESTROYS GOOD SQUASH
The screaming and shouting went to the young Egyptian's head and the third game disappeared from his grasp in under 7 minutes as heath won it 15-4 to re-establish the lead. The fourth game showed both players truly warmed up and wanting to win. It was not rhythmic squash, the sort of jitterbug squash played by Nicol and Johnson, with established patterns. Heath and Shabana could be compared to the tango, all changes of rhythms and unusual moves. You rarely heard the crack of well thumped ball, it was mostly the soft thuds of lobs and drops. This was squash that was brain led rather than brawn led. As you may have gathered I enjoyed every rally, every stroke. I even enjoyed the errors, because they were made for the very loftiest of reasons.

A RARE TALENT
I am most impressed with Shabana's sureness of hitting the nick; when a ball is sitting up and his opponent is dancing the two-step anticipation polka , Shabana will choose his wall and flick the ball into the dead nick. It is a nonchalant, almost careless racket stroke and nine out of ten times he hits a winner. Only J. Power has exhibited that talent, but not nearly as often as Shabana.

Where was I? The fourth game. It really was point for point right to 14-14 and the crowd was raising the desert temperature by the minute. Heath got to 14-13 and was denied a let at the front: 14-all. He called no set! What nerve! And Shabana with even more nerve smacked a forehand into the nick to take the game. Near pandemonium and the match all tied up.

MUSIC, LIGHTS, CHAOS
Shabana was the hungrier. (On the way to the Pyramids I asked Thierry Lincou about his match the previous evening which he lost to Barada . "I guess I wasn't hungry enough," he replied frankly.) Shabana wanted this, he wanted what Barada has had for so long. He took the fifth game by the scruff of the neck and ran to a 6-3 lead and then you knew, you just knew, that Heath would be collecting his cheque for $1,500 and searching Cairo for Czech beer well into the night.

Heath did not give up and tied it it at 7-7, but Shabana hit another streak and lead 13-7 and then 14-9. Heath was still lobbing and dropping and driving and gave the Egyptian crowd several types of heart failure as he slowly climbed to 14-11. Then Shabana hit a superb boast and the crowd went bazonkers with joy, and the lights came up and the Egyptian music started blaring out of the speakers and the people were on there feet applauding and wondering why Shabana was pointing down with his finger instead of kissing everybody in sight.

What a nice boy this Shabana is-the biggest victory of his life hung on that point and he immediately called it down, the ball having hit the top of the tin, which the referee, 30 yards away, had not seen. Finally they turned off the music, dimmed the lights and began to play squash again. Shabana hit a forehand drive down the left wall, Heath felt he should have a let, he was denied, and Shabana had finally won 15-11 after 71 minutes of delightful sporting entertainment. Lights, music-.oh the hell with it.

THE TONGUE TECHNIQUE
One of the most entertaining matches, for a whole different reason, was Del Harris beating Billy Haddrell. We keep forgetting that Harris was one of the best British players for a decade and even now can knock the breath out of you with some of his shots and his speed. He was easily beating Haddrell when the Australian brought his best talent in to play, his tongue. He can talk any opponent out of a game and he almost did it to Harris, who can hold his own in the verbal stakes any time. Indeed the last two games saw more action from the tongue than the racket. As both players are capable of exquisite shots I can forgive them and sat back and laughed most of the time. Harris recovered to take the fifth and go forward to a meeting with Barada in the Quarters.

NOT FIT BUT A GREAT ACTOR
Barada beat Elborolossy in three but he got several warnings for wasting time. It was for Barada a needed breather, as he was in bad shape. Toward the end of the third he fell flat on the floor, lay there as though dead, was moved by the man who was told to wipe up the sweat from the floor, got up and held up his hand, and showed he had trouble breathing as though lung had collapsed and after three minutes went back and won the final points. Harris should do well if he keeps his head about him and keeps the ball in play.

SECOND ROUND RESULTS
MEN
Peter Nicol (Sco) bt Nick Taylor (Eng) 15-7, 15-9, 15-5
Amr Shabana (Egy) bt Martin Heath (Sco) 13-15, 15-6, 4-15, 15-14, 15-11.
Simon Parke (Eng) bt Peter Genever (Eng) 15-7, 15-11, 15-4.
David Palmer (Aus) bt Karim Darwish (Egy) 15-11, 6-15, 13-15, 15-13, 15-13
Del Harris (Eng) bt Billy Haddrell (Aus) 17-16, 15-12, 13-15, 8-15, 15-11.
Ahmed Barada (Egy) bt Omar Elborolossy (Egy) 15-9, 15-12, 15-8.
Paul Johnson (Eng) bt Alex Gough (Wal) 15-3, 15-4, 15-8.
Jonathon Power (Can) bt Graham Ryding (Can) 14-15, 15-11, 15-3, 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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