SIMON ROSNER LONER IN EGYPTIAN - PAKISTANI PARTY

German Simon Rosner was a lone European in a sea of Pakistanis and Egyptians when the quarterfinalists were found on day three of the Prince 14th world junior men’s squash championships in Palmerston North.

THE ROSNER - ZAMAN BATTLE OF ATTRITION
There was no particular elation though after the fourth seed had reached the last eight in subduing Pakistani Bilal Zaman after a 75-minute war of attrition 9-4 10-8 3-9 9-4 in the fourth round.

Round of 16 action in Palmerston North . Photo 2006 © New Zealand Squash.

He was quite prepared to play conservatively to get the job done against the nine to 16 seed, whose uncle is former brilliant Pakistani player Qamar Zaman. In the end it was the younger Zaman who buckled after numerous protracted rallies, including conceding a stroke in the closing stages.

Even the presence courtside of the game’s greatest player, Pakistani Jahangir Khan, in his capacity as World Squash Federation president, could not save Zaman from the dogged Rosner.

As a fulltime professional the 18-year-old Rosner was only too well aware of what lay ahead, and felt some responsibility as the only European seeded in the top eight.

“I’m quite pleased to be in the top eight after being eliminated in the round of 16 two years ago in Islamabad,” Rosner said.

“I would like to have been able to play a few shots in to the nick tonight but I was happy to rally and not make mistakes. Sometimes you have to rally to win.

“Maybe if I have a good night I can beat the Egyptian (fifth to eighth seed Tarek Momen) in the last eight. Our previous meetings have been balanced (a similar number of wins and loses). The last time I won but he (Tarek) gave up injured after the first game.”
Roser, who beat Englishman Joel Hines to win the European under-19 title in April, has a world senior ranking of 72nd. That would make it hard to make a good living unless he did not still have some income as a carry over from a period in the German Army.

QUARTERFINAL DRAMA - IN THE CARDS?

Round of 16 action in Palmerston North . Photo 2006 © e-pics.

The quarterfinals will hopefully throw up some tighter contests after most of the fourth round clashes were largely one-sided, the best exception being the Rosner-Zaman match.
The other matches pit top seed Ramy Ashour, of Egypt, against an old Pakistani foe Farhan Mehboob, who is seeded five to eight, the No 3 seed Omar Mossad Abozeid, of Egypt, meets another Pakistani Yasir Ali Butt, and the second seed Aamir Atlas Khan, of Pakistan, has come out to Egyptian Mohamed Reda.

ENGLAND'S QUIET EXIT
It was not a good night for the England. It had three players in the last 16, Joe Lee, James Snell and Tom Pashley. All lost, Pashley and Lee in four games but poor Snell was flattened 9-0 9-0 9-5 by towering Egyptian Abozeid.

AMERICAN QUIETER EXIT
For the Americans, they were left to toil in the consolation brackets, with four of them remaining in the plate fray - Mark Froot reaching the last eight of the plate and McGuinness, Canner and Plimpton advancing in the classic and consolation plates (see results below). The plate competitions are crucial for the mid and lower-tier teams because those results will factor into the final seeding adjustments for the team competition next week.

Round of 16 action in Palmerston North . Photo 2006 © e-pics.

From the quarterfinals the individual championship matches will be transferred from the SquashGym Palmerston North club to an all-glass court erected at the Arena Manawatu Stadium.

AHOUR - MEHBOOB BATTLE LOOMS
The defending champion, Ashour, waltzed in to the quarterfinals with ridiculous ease, smothering the 17th to 32nd seed Kam Hing Choong, of Malaysia, 9-2 9-1 9-0 in 18 minutes. However, mention the name Farhan Mehboob to him, and Ashbour’s ready smile disappears, and he is immediately serious, and even a little unsure.

The left-handed Mehboob has had his share of wins over Ashour, and if anyone is to stop Ashour becoming the first player to win consecutive world junior titles it might be Mehboob.

The last time they met the 17-year-old Mehboob won a five-game match in the first round of the professional 2005 British Open in Manchester, and he also beat him in a professional tournament in India.

“It should be a nice match. It should be a long battle,” Ashour said.

When they met in the quarterfinals of the world juniors in Islamabad Ashour prevailed in four games.

Jahangir, unbeaten for a glorious five years and eight months, one of the best winning streaks in all sport, acknowledged Ashour’s brilliance. However, he sounded a note or two of caution.

“Ramy is very skilful but it not all dependent on skill,” he said. “You have to be fit too. He needs to improve his fitness.”

So much of Jahangir’s approach was built around working on his fitness, combined with focus and discipline. He said players could shine at junior level but it was a totally different environment playing with the fulltime professionals.

“Some players go to the seniors and they break,” Jahangir said.

He declined to get excited about Pakistani 15-year-old quarterfinalist Aamir Atlas Khan, saying at his age Jahangir and fellow Pakistani Jansher Khan were already world junior champions.

Jahangir was impressed with the Palmerston club’s efforts in securing the championships, and the facilities, saying it was great for the sport in New Zealand.

Championship Round 4
Ramy Ashour [1] (EGY) beat Choong Kam Hing [17-32] (MAS)    9-2 9-1 9-0 [18mins]
Farhan Mehboob [5-8] (PAK) beat Elvinn Keo(MAS)    9-0 9-0 9-1 [26mins]
Simon Rösner [4] (GER) beat Bilal Zaman [9-16] (PAK)    9-4 10-8 3-9 9-4 [78mins]
Tarek Momen [5-8] (EGY) beat Tom Pashley [17-32] (ENG)    9-5 9-0 9-10 9-5 [61mins]
Yasir Butt [5-8] (PAK) beat Nicolas Mueller [9-16] (SUI)    9-4 9-4 9-7 [36mins]
Omar Mossad [3] (EGY) beat James Snell [17-32] (ENG)    9-0 9-0 9-5 [32mins]
Mohd Ali Anwar Reda [5-8] (EGY) beat Joe Lee [9-16] (ENG)    9-6 9-6 1-9 9-5 [65mins]
Aamir Atlas Khan [2] (PAK) beat Tom Hoevenaars [17-32] (NED)    9-7 9-0 9-0 [29mins]

Round of 16 action in Palmerston North . Photo 2006 © New Zealand Squash.

 
Classic Plate Round 1
Vikram Malhotra(IND) beat Edward Dromgool(NZL)    10-8 9-2 9-1 [29mins]
Chris Tasker-Grindley(ENG) beat Craig Farrell(NZL)    9-2 9-2 9-1 [25mins]
David Canner(USA) beat Reiko Peter(SUI)    6-9 10-9 9-6 9-3 [56mins]
Matthew Nation(NZL) beat Harinder Pal Sandhu [17-32] (IND)    Walkover [mins]
Benjamin Fischer(SUI) beat Christopher Lloyd(NZL)    9-6 9-0 9-1 [28mins]
Richard Colburn(RSA) beat Josh Larkin(AUS)    9-0 9-5 9-3 [23mins]
Byron Peehi-Floyd(NZL) beat Lance Beddoes(NZL)    9-7 4-9 9-3 9-0 [30mins]
Bastiaan Meulenbelt(NED) beat Randy Lim(MAS)    0-9 9-3 3-9 9-6 10-8 [55mins]
Omar Tarek Mahm Aly(EGY) beat Josh Thom(NZL)    9-1 9-4 9-1 [20mins]
Florian Silbernagl(GER) beat Mikael Siren(FIN)    9-5 9-0 9-1 [16mins]
Muhd Asyraf Azan [9-16] (MAS) beat Rex Hedrick(AUS)    10-9 5-9 9-3 9-5 [46mins]
Naresh Kumar(IND) beat Aaron Fyfe(AUS)    9-4 2-9 9-6 9-7 [50mins]
Trevor McGuinness [17-32] (USA) beat Ramit Tandon(IND)    9-0 9-0 9-4 [18mins]
Yuuta Fukui(JPN) beat Conor O'Hare(IRL)    9-2 9-0 9-0 [20mins]
Max Lee [9-16] (HKG) beat Keegan Burkhart(NZL)    9-0 9-2 9-0 [20mins]
Matt Reece [17-32] (AUS) beat Todd Harrity(USA)    7-9 9-4 9-6 9-10 9-6 [78mins]
 
Consolation Plate Round 1
Brad Kemp(AUS) beat James Skiffington(NZL)    9-2 10-9 9-3 [35mins]
Tatsuya Shinkubo(JPN) beat Ammar Al -Tamimi [17-32] (KUW)    Walkover
Fung J Yang(HKG) beat Karim Dabaah(ENG)    Walkover
Christopher Plimpton(USA) beat Nathan Kam(AUS)    9-2 9-4 8-10 1-9 9-7 [42mins]
Cameron Jamieson(NZL) beat Jordan Wagstaff(NZL)    5-9 9-6 9-1 9-3 [35mins]
Ainsley Gannaway(ZIM) beat Shamlan Mohammed(KUW)    Walkover
Alex Grayson(NZL) beat Cameron Morris(AUS)    9-1 9-1 9-0 [24mins]
Chris O'Kane(IRL) beat Parthiba Ayyappann [17-32] (IND)    Walkover
Luke Gordon(NZL) beat Aaron Cusick(AUS)    9-2 9-0 9-0 [11mins]
Luke Sims(AUS) beat James Meyer(NZL)    10-8 9-7 9-1 [27mins]
Zardeen Wazir(ZIM) beat Curtis Harrison(NZL)    Walkover
Aatos Mannroos(FIN) beat Omar Al  Jamaan(KUW)    Walkover
Wesley Cusick(AUS) beat Lui Syder(NZL)    Walkover [mins]
Ravi Dixit(IND) beat Deepesh Patel(ZIM)    9-3 6-9 6-9 9-2 9-0 [56mins]
 
Plate Round 2
Ahmed Hassan(ZIM) beat Petteri Siren(FIN)    4-9 9-4 9-5 9-2 [35mins]
Manek Mathur(IND) beat Christopher Callis(USA)    3-1 9-3 9-6 4-9 9-0 [50mins]
Richard Dodd(RSA) beat Karri Salonen(FIN)    9-2 9-0 9-0 [20mins]
Zac Alexander(AUS) beat Evan Williams [9-16] (NZL)    9-4 9-6 9-3 [21mins]
Frank Hartkoren(NED) beat Andrew McDougall [17-32] (CAN)    10-9 9-3 4-9 9-4 [44mins]
Alex Ingham(ENG) beat Bumpei Kawano(JPN)    9-2 9-1 9-1 [27mins]
Tim Cowell(AUS) beat Alexander Jury(AUS)    9-1 9-0 9-1 [17mins]
Todd Ruth(USA) beat Alan Tsang(HKG)    4-9 9-4 10-8 7-9 9-1 [75mins]
Reed Endresen(USA) beat Hisham Saleh(KUW)    Walkover
Mark Froot(USA) beat Conor Matson(NZL)    9-5 9-2 9-3 [25mins]
Wian Louwrens(RSA) beat Matiu Tekani-McQueen(NZL)    9-1 9-10 9-1 1-9 9-1 [44mins]
Shinnosuke Tsukue(JPN) beat Bryce Redman(NZL)    9-3 9-10 9-2 9-2 [39mins]
Peter Taylor(AUS) beat Charles Veerkamp(NED)    9-4 9-0 9-2 [30mins]
Jason Cole Niven(RSA) beat Livio Catenazzi(SUI)    9-0 9-7 9-2 [31mins]
Carsten Schoor(GER) beat Simon O'Shaughnessy(NZL)    9-0 9-0 9-1 [24mins]
Mithran Selvaratnam(MAS) beat Naishadh Lalwani(IND)    2-9 9-7 9-1 10-9 [55mins]
 
Plate Round 3
Manek Mathur(IND) beat Ahmed Hassan(ZIM)    9-3 9-5 9-3 [25mins]
Zac Alexander(AUS) beat Richard Dodd(RSA)    9-5 9-3 9-0 [37mins]
Alex Ingham(ENG) beat Frank Hartkoren(NED)    9-6 9-4 9-3 [33mins]
Tim Cowell(AUS) beat Todd Ruth(USA)    7-9 2-9 9-7 9-5 9-4 [85mins]
Mark Froot(USA) beat Reed Endresen(USA)    9-4 9-2 9-2 [35mins]
Wian Louwrens(RSA) beat Shinnosuke Tsukue(JPN)    3-9 2-9 9-6 9-3 9-7 [53mins]
Jason Cole Niven(RSA) beat Peter Taylor(AUS)    9-1 9-7 9-1 [30mins]
Carsten Schoor(GER) beat Mithran Selvaratnam(MAS)    9-2 9-5 9-0 [29mins]