Galifi Keeps String Going in PNG
July 17, 2004, By Howard Harding; SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004

"Roc Roc" Excites the Crowd in Upset

[Complete draw]

French giant-killer Stephane Galifi upset the seedings for the second day in a row when he dismissed sixth seed Timothy Manning in Friday's quarter-finals of the Trukai PNG Squash International in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Affectionately nicknamed "roc-roc" (the name for frog in the local lingo), Galifi fast became a crowd favourite after pulling off the only upset of the first day when he knocked out fourth seed Cameron White. The only unseeded player in the last eight, Galifi galloped to an impressive 15-9 15-12 5-5 victory over Tim Manning, also from Australia.

The final match of the night was an absolute cracker, with fifth seed Raj Nanda, the world No74 from Australia, coming up against the young gun from Malaysia, No2 seed Moh'd Azlan Iskandar, ranked No28 in the world. Nanda played well above his seeding to take the match to five games before eventually succumbing to the 22-year-old from Sarawak in a 15-17 15-9 10-15 15-13 15-6 scoreline.

Both players pleased the crowd with their great skills and speed around the court in a match which lasted for 109 minutes - more than twice as long as any of the other quarter-finals.

The two matches in the top half of the draw went as expected, with No1 seed Dan Jenson comfortably accounting for fellow Australian Paul Davis in three games - and fellow Australian Institute of Sport team-mates Cameron Pilley and Aaron Frankcomb playing at a torrid pace in the heat of a balmy Port Moresby evening. Their match lasted 47 minutes, with third seed Pilley prevailing 15-4 15-6 15-6.

Earlier in the day the players joined the PNG Minister for Sport for lunch at Parliament House.

RESULTS: Trukai PNG Squash International, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Quarter-finals:
[1] Dan Jenson (AUS) bt [8] Paul Davis (AUS) 15-5, 15-5, 15-4 (32m)
[3] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [7] Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) 15-4, 15-6, 15-6 (47m)
Stephane Galifi (FRA) bt [6] Timothy Manning (AUS) 15-9, 15-12, 15-5 (49m)
[2] Moh'd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [5] Raj Nanda (AUS) 15-17, 15-9, 10-15, 15-13, 15-6 (109m)

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