Euro Jr Squash Racquets Stavanger Norway 2008

Outside the Hanoi Club the calm of activities within contrasted with the pedal power and whizzing bikes; the scrum outside the stalls selling wares and bun cha, the staple of rice vermicelli with barbecued pork and vegetables; and fruit laden bicycles plying their trade. Inside, the bikes were being powered but not moving around in the gym; the players practising on the courts.

But there was also the opportunity to hit golf balls out from the driving range into the adjacent lake. Cunningly, the balls would float so crash helmeted rowers could easily net them.

Joshna Chinappa & Donna Urquhart tried their hand, and while some shots connected with the centre of a club, both had much more success with finding the sweet spot of their squash racket!

Club manager Eugene Chng had not been in position when the club had been built in 1997, but when he took it over as part of a new group of owners in 2004 he inherited the two courts. ‘I have never played, but I have friends from Singapore where it is a well known sport so I knew about squash’ he said.

Bearing in mind that there are only two other courts in the city, and apparently a little dilapidated, he was not surprisingly asked how having the courts of a tiny sport worked for the Hanoi Club. ‘It is great to have these facilities as they add to the range for our members’.

As for the event, he was very upbeat. ‘It will definitely raise the profile for squash and bring a wider group of members in. It is good to see us and the sport featured in the newspapers too’.

He hesitated, grinned and considered for a moment then turned his attention to the start of the first semi final saying, ‘I will probably try squash one of these days!’

The match in question featured the two top remaining seeds, Louise Crome (1) and Donna Urquhart (4). Both had been comfortable winners in the last eight and came out of the traps fast. Urquhart, a rangy left handed Australian who likes to use her reach and take the ball early. Kiwi Crome is a little more considered, but both durable and doughty. Moving from Auckland to give full time play a shot has found her in Amsterdam under the expert eye of Liz Irving. Urquhart is still to be found in Queensland, but her rate of improvement as she gains experience may demand a rethink soon.

Playing hard, but with excellent spirit, the standing room only crowd of local players and interested onlookers were gasping at the pace. The players were not. Depth and guile were mixed but Crome was just ahead in winners taken and slightly on top with fewer errors made. This gave her the first game, and eventually the second after clawing back Urquhart’s early lead. With the third going much the same way due to Crome’s steadiness the match was lost for the 21 year old Queenslander.

But although the semi finals had not been her desired end point Urquhart was not unhappy generally. ‘I played quite well in patches, but that was the problem, it was patchy’ she smiled. ‘I started each game well but I wasn't consistent enough. But Louise played really well tonight and had me under a lot of pressure’.

When asked by the media about her overall progress she responded, ‘In the last two or three years I have had so many injuries but this year being free of them has made all the difference. I now want to stay like this and keep learning and moving forward’, she added.

As for Crome, whose only WISPA Tour title so far has been the Finnish Open 2007, she was upbeat about her play. ‘That was one of the better matches I have played in a little while. Not only is it the first time I have played her, but the first Australian for a while. They hit it hard with intensity; and with Donna I had to keep reminding myself all the way through that she was a left hander. But I knew I really needed to be up for it today as Donna has had some good results recently”.

Her final opponent turned out to be the senior Indian. Joshna Chinappa has not won on the WISPA Tour but would have a chance now after beating Dipika Pallikal. Both have a similar physique, both have a languid manner, but only one, Chinappa, really fired in the match. Pallikal was slow from the blocks and seemed to realise that success was beyond her despite putting in and getting fairly close. Afterwards she admitted that her extended win over Elise Ng had affected her. ‘I was really sore from yesterday so I couldn't push hard enough. But it was a good week and I hope that it carries on in Malaysia at the next event’.

As for the victor, ever the perfectionist she was not entirely content. ‘I was happy that I won but I wished I had closed it down earlier while I was leading’. Asked about her preparation Chinappa commented, I started training better so am playing better too. Me and Dipika have amazing sponsors as the Mittal Champions Trust give us support that lets us prepare and travel without worries. I have been training with the Indian Squash Federation myself and they have also helped me out a lot too’.

Commercial plugs over, she could look forward to finals day. Not bad from fifth seeding spot.

For the winner new found wealth will beckon as she becomes a millionairess overnight – in Vietnamese Dong! It takes 16,000 of them to match a single US dollar and revaluation doesn't appear to have taken off as a notion. Until it does zeros will be rain down on people from every direction, much as cycles and scooters do in the streets and indeed on the pavements too.

But that is a digression. In the local financial patois, a ding-dong final is quite possible for the inaugural WISPA Vietnam Open.

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