AL-AHRAM INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS SEMI FINAL SESSION: Power Injures knee, withdraws from next week's Hong Kong event.

Martin Bronstein reporting from the Pyramids at Giza.

CAIRO EXCLUSIVE TO SQUASHTALK From Martin Bronstein at the Pyramids

REPEATED HISTORY IS BORING
Yes, History does Repeat. Last year in this self-same tournament (called the World Open then) on this self same court, Jonathan Power retired after the third game because of injuries sustained from a bad fall, allowing local hero Ahmed Barada an easy passage into the final where he lost to Peter Nicol. Today, after playing an exquisite first game and then losing the second (during which a collision left him flat on the floor clutching his right knee, his face contorted with agony) he retired at 5-7 after wincing with pain during the beginning of the third game.

WRIST-MAGIC SQUASH.
Let me say that two good games by these two master craftsman is equal to several dozen matches by lesser players. This is squash where the racket doesn't seem to be swung, just a flick of the wrist can send the ball in a dozen different directions. And the shot selection is often surprising - to both spectator and opponent. Power, sporting a hair-style stolen from Don King (it's fashioned by sticking your finger in a light socket) seems languid on court but is incredibly fast even on the rare occasion on which he has failed to read his opponent's shot. Barada can get out of trouble by turning a difficult retrieval into an offensive reply and when he starts hitting his winners there is very little anyone can do.

POWER STEERING
The Canadian was very much in the driving seat in the first game, stroking his winners with nonchalance and in general having much of his own way. Not that Barada was overwhelmed - the game took 21 minutes to complete but although he led briefly at 8-6, he made three errors and then Power, leading 10-9, hit a volley drop, was given a stroke, hit another forehand drop winner, then a low drive and then another forehand drop to take the game 15-9. This subdued the Barada Armada and they got chanting to urge their man in the second game.

THE BATTLE FOR THE OSCARS
Leading 2-1 in the second Power took a ball off the middle of the back wall and drove it straight into Barada's upper thigh. Barada immediately went into his Oscar winning performance of extreme pain, made his usual miraculous recovery inside two minutes to find a repentant Power offering his backside as a target for revenge. He's a card, that Power. Barada was now beginning to hit his perfect winners while Power's error rate crept up and from a 4-1 lead he found himself 10-6 down. He kept in touch but at 10-13, Barada charged forward to get a ball, Power went down clutching his knee in pain ( a performance that certainly wrested the Oscar from Barada), lost the point and saw the game disappear to a sublime backhand overhead drop into the nick. ( My 'acting' remarks are unkind, Power was in real pain: Slomo TV replay showed definite contact between Barada and Power's knee.)

WET WALLS OR BALLS
When he came off court Power beckoned referee Bruce Kettle and at length told him that Barada was wetting the ball before serving so that the ball was shooting off the wall, the same accusation that Anthony Hill had made against Barada earlier in the week. Kettle said players wiped their hands on the wall, so you could not be sure where the moisture was coming from. The third game started, Power winced each time he turned on his right leg and within five minutes he had shaken hands to give Barada another Al Ahram final position. The latest on Power is that his knee was badly swollen and he has withdrawn from Hong Kong.

NICOL FLOATS IN HEAT
Sad to say that after a brilliant first game, the much anticipated 'revenge'match between Simon Parke and Peter Nicol fizzled to nothing as Parke suddenly ran out of steam. His dreams of beating Nicol after such a close loss in the Super Series finals, evaporated in the heat of the court. Although the desert is delightfully cool, I'm told that with the lighting, the temperature on court makes it very sapping. Nicol on the other hand seems to love the heat and just floated around for four games.

NO DYNAMITE
The first game did not have the explosive excitement of their last meeting but showed two very accomplished players attacking the ball, volleying as often as possible and making the back wall nearly redundant. They could also play without officials; they call lets only when they absolutely have to and make every possible effort to hit the ball. All other pros should watch videos of these two players and learn how to keep a game flowing. Parke started by trailing 2-5 and then carefully worked his way 6-6, trailed again and then pulled ahead, dominating the court, to win 15-12 after 19 minutes.

DISAPPOINTMENT AGAIN
In the second game Nicol started floating the ball to the back forcing Parke to use a backwall boast and each time Nicol would put it away for a winner. Parke was now doing all the work as Nicol took charge and suddenly the fight went out of Parke and Nicol strolled to a 15-6 win in under 12 minutes. It was obvious that Parke was suffering from something and England coach Paul Carter, who was advising Parke between games, sad that he suddenly went dry and found it hard to breathe on the court. Parke tried to make a comeback but his tank was truly dry and it was really going through the motions and he lost the next two games in 24 minutes.

CHOICE JOYCE
It took just 32 minutes for Leilani Joyce to claim her place in the final over Tania Bailey who had no answer to the New Zealander's all-round game and total concentration. Although Bailey had beaten Joyce in April in Germany, there was no trace of that superiority on the court in front of the Pyramids. Bailey had started slowly in her quarter-final match against Rebecca Macree but then settled down to win.

Joyce never gave the 21 year old Englishwoman a chance to settle down. Furthermore Bailey failed to produce any real attacking strategy apart from hitting everything on the forehand cross court to keep the ball away from Joyce's lethal forehand. When she was unable to do this it was point over as Joyce either buried it in the nick or played it so tight that Bailey could not scrape it up. Bailey at 20 is a very fine prospect -already at number nine in the WISPA rankings - but she has a long way to go before she can challenge a Joyce who has set her heart on winning a tournament. Joyce won 9-2, 9-3, 9-0 and will be very hard to beat in the final.

GRAINGER LOSES LENGTH AND MATCH
Carol Owens didn't quite have a cruise into the final but for the first two games Natalie Grainger simply did not hit length and Owen jumped all over her winning the first two games 9-2, 9-3 in very short order. These two had a terrific battle in the British Open and we hoped for an encore; it almost happened as Grainger finally found length which then allowed her to use her deadly volley drops. When she got to game ball at 8-6 we settled back for a really good five setter but Owens kept up the pressure, tied the score and took the 18 ½ minute game 10-8.

RESULTS SEMI FINALS (THURSDAY)
WOMEN
Carol Owens bt Natalie Grainger bt Natalie Grinham 9-2, 9-3, 10-8
Leilani Joyce (NZ) bt Tania Bailey (Eng) 9-2, 9-3, 9-0.

MEN
Ahmed Barada bt Jonathon Power 9-15, 15-10 (retired)
Peter Nicol (Sco) bt Simon Parke (Eng) 12-15, 15-6, 15-5, 15-7.

RESULTS QUARTER FINALS
WOMEN
WEDNESDAY
Carol Owens bt Suzanne Horner 9-3, 9-5, 9-5
Natalie Grainger bt Natalie Grinham 9-3, 9-3, 9-2
TUESDAY
Tania Bailey (Eng)bt Rebecca Mcree (Eng) 0-9, 9-5, 9-4, 5-9, 10-9.
Leilani Joyce (NZ) bt Rachael Grinham (Eng) 9-7, 9-4, 9-1.

MEN
WEDNESDAY
Ahmed Barada def Del Harris 15-9, 15-2, 7-15, 15-11
Jonathon Power bt Paul Johnson 15-7, 15-13, 15-6
TUESDAY
Peter Nicol (Sco) bt Amr Shabana (Egy) 9-15, 15-5, 15-8, 15-7.
Simon Parke (Eng) bt David Palmer (Aus) 15-7, 15-11, 11-15, 15-9.

• 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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