"POSTER BOY" COMFORTABLE

Tournament "poster boy", Egyptian Ramy Ashour, is feeling the pressure as he starts his quest today (July 18) to be the first player to win consecutive world junior men's squash championships.

After a first round bye in the Prince sponsored tournament at the SquashGym club in Palmerston North Ashour meets India's Vikram Malhotra in the second round.

Ramy Ashour - appearing earlier this year in Liverpool. Photo 2006 © Fritz Borchert

Everywhere the 14th junior championships are being publicised the poster is dominated by an action shot of the lanky Ashour, clearly one of the hottest players in the game, and one who may become one of the greats.

"It's a big responsibility in my position, and yes there is pressure there," he says.
"I want to do it (win the title again). I try to be relaxed because I know I need to be to win.

"I'm used to pressure. I've had to make a lot of sacrifices to be where I am, and I hope God will help me win here."

The 18-year-old Muslim is liking his environment, having spent a lot of time playing in England, which is similar to New Zealand, and he is happy with the redeveloped complex, still being finished in some areas. It helps too that he speaks good English.
"We (the Egyptian team) are very happy. The people are very hospitable."

But probably his greatest comfort is his music. Ashour listens to it a lot, in English and Arabic, even when he is hitting on the court, and he says music is a huge part of his life. He even fancies himself as a singer.

Making him an even more overwhelming favourite is that he has a 3-0 winning record in matches against the second seeded Pakistani Aamir Atlas Khan, who he beat in straight games in their last match, in the British under-19 final.

Ashbour is firmly focused on a career in squash, having climbed to a world senior ranking of 20th in less than two years as a member of the Professional Squashplayers' Association. He won his first tournament in Athens, just after winning the junior world title in Islamabad in 2004, and has steadily improved his world ranking.

Helping him has been an elder brother, Hashim Ashbour, who has a world ranking of 35th. Egypt is a squash-crazy country, one of the few in the world, with the sport probably only behind football (soccer) in terms of popularity.

"All of Egypt knows about squash," he says proudly.

It attracts big sponsorships, and Ashour says the Government is starting to inject substantial sums in to the game too. It is indicative of Egypt's squash depth that he says his world ranking does not place him any higher than fourth in his own country.
The 1.89m, 77kg Cairo resident has not neglected his studies though. He's two years through a four-year degree course in ligistics at the Arab Academy of Science and Technology.

KEO STOPS LOCAL FAVORITE EVAN WILLIAMS

The USA contingent has mixed results on day one: 3 wins, 6 losses. Photo 2006 © Chris Smith.

The host country's prospects suffered an early reversal when its No 1 Evan Williams lost to Malaysia's Elvinn Keo in the first round 9-5 4-9 9-6 8-10 9-3 in 72 minutes. Though New Zealand team manager Robbie Wyatt lamented the vagaries of the random draw had given Williams a much tougher opponent than some of his countrymen he had his chances in the fifth game, leading 3-1 after surviving two match balls at 8-6 in the fourth.

Keo was not listed in the programme as one of his country's players for the following teams event but his victory in the match of the day would hardly have harmed his chances of earning selection.

His backhand drop shot created numerous problems for Williams, seeded in the ninth to 16th bracket, and he had the wit to grab the initiative in the fifth when Williams looked about to take control with the backing of a parochial gallery.

Williams showed composure and spirit in winning the fourth game, after Keo had to leave the court at 6-8 to have a knee wound dressed after he slid in to the backhand corner.
However, he perhaps allowed Keo to regain control in the fifth when he needed to push on. Keo won with his third match ball after winning four consecutive points, which included one of his deftly executed backhands.

ROSNER SAILS THROUGH
With the second seed Atlas Khan also having a bye the highest seeded player in action was the No 3, German Simon Rosner, the European under-19 champion, and winner last week of the Pioneer Jr Open in Cologne, who took just 21 minutes to beat Frank Hartkoren, of The Netherlands, 9-1 9-2 9-2.

Canada’s Colin West had an exacting first round match against talented Australian Zac Alexander before emerging the victor 9-4 10-9 10-8 in 56 minutes. West survived a number of game balls in the second after Alexander had led 7-1 and 8-5.

However, West’s team-mate Andrew McDougall, seeded in the 17th to 32nd bracket, was not so lucky, succumbing to Benjamin Fischer, of Switzerland, 9-6 9-2 8-10 9-5. Another played seeded 17th to 32nd to be eliminated was Indian Parthiban Ayappan, who fell to South Africa’s Rudi Willemse.

TRAVEL WOES
The Kuwait players missed the first day’s play when they were delayed in transit, and they will miss the individual event as a consequence rather than play in the plate events. One of them, Ammar Al-Tamimi, was seeded 17th to 32nd.

MERICAN MIXED FORTUNES
Among the American entrants, there were three winners and six losers. Chris Callis lost to Keith Pritchard (CAN) 3-0, Reed Endresen lost to Omar Tarek Mahmoud (Egypt) 3-1, CJ Plimpton lost to Chris Lloyd (NZL) 3-0, Todd Ruth lost to Randy Lim (MAS) and Mark Froot- lost to 5/8 seed Yasir Butt (PAK) 3-0 while on the winners side, David Canner beat Tatsuya Shinkubo (JPN), 3-0 Todd Harrity beat Naishadh Lalwanni (IND) 3-0 and finally Trevor McGuinness 17/32 seed beat Aatos Mannroos (FIN) 3-0.

USA's Endreesen put forth maximum effort. Photo 2006 ©Squash NZ.

The round of 64 continues tomorrow.


Prince World Jr Men's Championships
First Round individual Results:     
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY)          bye         
Vikram Malhotra (IND) def Ahmed Hassan (ZIM) 9-3 9-2 9-4      
[17/32] Rory Byrne (IRL) def Joel Boman (AUS) 9-0 9-2 9-0       
Edward Dromgool (NZL) def Petteri Siren (FIN) 9-2 9-7 9-2        
[9/16] Keith Pritchard (CAN) def Christopher Callis (USA) 9-5 9-7 9-2        
Craig Farrell (NZL) def Brad Kemp (AUS) 6-9 9-6 8-10 9-2 9-1
[17/32] Choong Kam Hing (MAS) def Manek Mathur (IND) 9-7 9-0 10-8        
Chris Tasker-Grindley (ENG) def James Skifffington (NZL) 9-0 9-0 9-0     
[5/8] Farhan Mehboob (PAK) def Karri Salonen (FIN) 9-0 9-0 90-               
David Canner (USA) def Tatsuya Shinkubo (JPN) 9-1 9-1 9-0    
Reiko Peter (SUI) def [17/32] Ammar Al-Tamimi (KUW) w/o             
Norman Junge (GER) def Richard Dodd (RSA) 9-2 9-5 9-7         
Elvinn Keo (MAS) def [9/16] Evan Williams (NZL) 9-5 7-9 9-6 8-10 9-3     
Matthew Nation (NZL) def Karim Dabaah (ENG) w/o       
[17/32] Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) def Fung Ji Yang (HKG) 9-3 9-4 9-2     
Colin West (CAN) def Zac Alexander (AUS) 9-4 10-9 10-8            
[4] Simon Rosner (GER) def Frank Hartkoren (NED) 9-1 9-2 9-2
Christopher Lloyd (NZL) def Christopher Plimpton (USA) 9-5 9-0 9-1         
Benjamin Fischer (SUI) def [17/32] Andrew McDougall (CAN) 9-6 9-2 8-10 9-5
Parth Sharma (IND) def Nathan Kam (AUS)      9-7 9-0 9-1         
[9/16] Bilal Zaman (PAK) def Alex Ingham (ENG) 10-8 9-10 9-2 9-0      
Richard Colburn (RSA) def Cameron Jamieson (NZL) 9-8 6-9 9-7 1-9 9-1              
[17/32] Nathan Stevenson (AUS) def Bumpei Kawano (JPN) 9-1 9-6 9-3  
Josh Larkin (AUS) def Jordan Wagstaff (NZL) 9-2 9-3 9-4        
[5/8] Tarek Momen (EGY) def Shamlan Mohammed (KUW) w/o      
Lance Beddoes (NZL)    def Alexander Jury (AUS) 9-2 9-6 9-4
[17/32] Pyry Poikolainen (FIN) def Tim Cowell (AUS) 9-2 2-9 7-9 9-4 9-1                
Byron Peehi-Floyd (NZL) def Ainsley Gannaway (ZIM) 5-9 9-3 3-9 9-3 10-8           
[9/16] Sandeep Jangra (IND) def Alan Tsang (HKG) 9-4 9-0 9-3                
Bastiaan Meulenbelt (NED) def Cameron Morris (AUS) 9-5 9-5 9-6            
[17/32] Tom Pashley (ENG) def Alex Grayson (NZL) 9-0 9-1 9-2               
Randy Lim Jae Wynn (MAS) def Todd Ruth (USA) 9-6 9-6 9-3    
Josh Thom (NZL) def Hisham Saleh (KUW) w/o              
Rudi Willemse (RSA) def [17/32] Parthiban Ayappan (IND) w/o      
Omar Tarek Mahm Aly (EGY) def Reed Endresen (USA)   9-0 9-3 4-9 9-3       
[9/16] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) def Chris O'Kane (IRL)  9-0 9-0 9-4
Mikael Siren (FIN) def Aaron Cusick (AUS) 9-0 9-3 9-0               
[17/32] Sander Kock (NED) def Conor Matson (NZL) 9-2 9-3 9-3               
Florian Silbernagl (GER) def Luke Gordon (NZL) 9-3 9-1 9-0      
[5/8] Yasir Butt (PAK) def Mark Froot (USA) 9-4 9-5 9-0            
Rex Hedrick (AUS) def James Meyer (NZL) 9-0 9-0 9-1
[17/32] James Snell (ENG) def Wian Louwrens (RSA) 9-3 9-1 9-5             
Leo Au (HKG) def Matiu Tekani-McQueen (NZL) 9-4 9-1 9-6      
[9/16] Mohd Asyraf Azan (MAS) def Luke Sims (AUS) 9-0 9-1 9-7            
Naresh Kumar (IND) def Bryce Redman (NZL) 9-5 9-0 9-4         
[17/32] David Letourneau (CAN) def Curtis Harrison (NZL) w/o    
Aaron Fyfe (AUS) def Zardeen Wazir (ZIM) 9-3 9-5 9-2            
[3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) def Shinnosuke Tsukue (JPN) 9-3 9-1 9-0            
Ivan Yuen (MAS) def Charles Veerkamp (NED) 9-1 9-0 9-0       
[17/32] Trevor McGuinness (USA) def Aatos Mannroos (FIN) 9-3 9-0 9-1
Ramit Tandon (IND) def Omar Al Jamaan (KUW) w/o      
[9/16] Joe Lee (ENG) def Peter Taylor (AUS) 9-1 9-4 9-0           
Yuuta Fukui (JPN) def Jason Cole Niven (RSA) 9-3 9-7 9-5        
[17/32] Dave Glass (CAN) def Wesley Cusick (AUS) 9-0 9-1 9-1               
Conor O'Hare (IRL) def Lui Syder (NZL) 9-7 2-9 9-5 9-1   
[5/8] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) def Livio Catenazzi (SUI) w/o  
Keegan Burkhart (NZL) def Deepesh Patel (ZIM) 9-6 7-9 9-7 9-3     
[17/32] Tom Hoevenaars (NED) def Carsten Schoor (GER) 9-3 9-2 9-0    
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) def Simon O'Shaughnessy (NZL) 9-4 9-0 9-1
[9/16] Max Lee (HKG) def Ravi Dixit (IND) 9-8 9-2 9-1
Adrian Waller (ENG) def Matthew Durda (AUS) 9-0 9-2 9-0       
[17/32] Matt Reece (AUS) def Mithran Selvaratnam (MAS) 9-5 9-0 9-2      
Todd Harrity (USA) def Naishadh Lalwani (IND)  9-4 9-2 9-4      
[2] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK)    bye