USSRA Women's Squash 2002 Team Trials

		SquashTalk
SquashTalk >News > USA Mens Trials- Preview		SquashTalk

US Men's Trials Preview Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday SQUASHTALK TODAY World Jrs 03 Cairo English Open 03 PanAm Games Spanish Open Qatar PSA & WISPA Hyder Trophy RECENT EVENTS Super Series Atlanta PSA SLC WISPA Kellner Doubles Irish Open CURRENT CONTENT Hall of Fame News Index Club Links Gear Links E-boast Newsletter (sign up now free)	Greenwich Men's Trial Set By Rob Dinerman © 2002 SquashTalk		Squashtalk Pro Squash Headlines Event Engine Squash: Tourney of Champs US Open YMG Capital Classic World Men's Open Qatar Classic Cathay Pacific Superseries Qatar Masters '02 British Open Pakistan Open Macau Open Melbourne 01 Al Ahram Video recordings Player profiles Rankings Calendar
	June 26, 2002 © 2002 Line-Ups, Format set for US Men's Team Trials -U. S. Men's Coach Paul Assaiante has announced the format for the Team Trials for the men's team that will represent the United States later this summer at the 2002 Pan American Federation tourney in Quito, Ecuador. Six players will be vying for the four available positions on the team. The original plan had to be to allow the top eight ranked players to participate, and when USSRA Junior champion Julian Illingworth was declared ineligible for not fulfilling the exposure criteria and John Musto declined his invitation, Beau River and Steve Polli were invited to fill the last two spots and join top-six rankees Damian Walker, Dave McNeely, Preston Quick, Tim Wyant, Richard Chin and Jason Jewell. However, when a lingering groin injury sidelined Wyant and Polli decided to withdraw from the competition, Assaiante decided to divide the remaining six players into two three-man round-robins, consisting of the reigning and two-time S. L. Green champion Walker along with Chin and Jewell in one pool (Nos. 1, 4 and 5) and McNeely, Quick and River (Nos. 2, 3, and 6) in the other. Those round-robin pool matches will take place this Thursday through Saturday and the event will conclude on Sunday morning with the respective No. 1's, 2's and 3's playing each other for the 1-6 places. It should be noted that the trial results will count only 40% of a player's overall scores, with the pre-trial 2001-2002 ranking counting another 40% and the S. L. Green ranking accounting for the last 20%. Walker, for example, enters this weekend's action already possessing the No. 1 season ranking and as the No. 1 finisher in the S. L. Green, which as a numerical matter makes it almost inconceivable that he would fail to make the team. He played No. 1 on the American team that placed 19th in the most recent international world team competition, the World Championships which occurred last October in Melbourne. That entire event was a disaster for the U. S. team; everything that could go wrong did, from a disc operation that kept Coach Assaiante from even making the trip, to the severe upper-respiratory infection that afflicted Walker during the lengthy plane ride to Australia and hampered his play throughout that week, to an extremely difficult draw that forced the over-matched squad to face Egypt and France right off the bat, to a communication breakdown as a result of which the American players were the only ones who were unaware of the tin-height until just before they went on court. Although the next World Team Championships won't take place until 2003, it is known that the seeding both for that event and for the prestigious Pan American Games (which happen only every four years and are considered far more important than the annual Pan Am Fed event), which are scheduled for next summer, will be significantly influenced by the outcome of the upcoming Ecuador tournament. A strong performance this summer can therefore go a long way to nullifying the disappointing performance last year in the world perception of American men's squash and to rebuilding the stature of the American program, which took a major hit during that loss-filled week eight months ago. Thursday's matches will begin at 7:00 with Walker vs. Chin (a replay of the 2001 S. L. Green final, which went to the former in five) followed by McNeely vs. Quick. Friday's session, also starting at 7:00, will feature Chin vs. Jewell, then Quick vs. River; Saturday's play opens at 4:00, when Walker will play Jewell, after which McNeely will go against River; and Sunday's concluding round will have the two No. 3's play each other at 10 a.m., followed by the No. 2's and ending with the No 1's. Attendance at the matches, which are being hosted at the private court of the CEO of Lehman Brothers, the team's major sponsor, is by invitation only, but this column will provide day-by-day coverage of the entire event as well as an announcement of the players who will comprise the 2002 U. S. Men's team.



	Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2003. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com. Published by Squashtalk LLC, 95 Martha's Point Rd. Concord MA 01742 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck, Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster. Copyright © 1999-2003 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.