EGYPTIAN SHABANA OUT TO PROVE HIS POINT!

Thierry Lincou - Survives test with Olli Tuominen photo © 2004, Debra Tessier for SquashTalk

Amr Shabana showed no mercy Monday evening as he mowed through Canadian Shahier Razik in the first round.

"I am out there to prove a point. People have been saying a lot of crap about me: They say that I won the World Open by chance. I will prove it to them that I deserved to win the World Open because I beat most of the top-10 players in Lahore last year. People say it was a fluke because I have not won that many matches after my World Cup triumph. That is because I was injured. I could not play because I have chronic tendinitis in my left arm, I couldn’t play my shots freely. But now I am fully fit.” Shabana told The Peninsula.

Shabana will have his chance Wednesday, as he will face James Willstrop, recent winner of the non-ranking invitational Canary Wharf Classic. Willstrop recovered from a slow start to prevail in a 76 minute battle with tour veteran Rodney Durbach

Top contenders, former world #1 Thierry Lincou of France survived difficult five game test in the first round of the Qatar Masters Tournament Monday in Doha.

Meanwhile, Egyptian stars Karim Darwish and Omar El Borolossy went down leaving world champion Amr Shabana as the sole Egyptian winner on Monday. A fourth Egyptian entrant, Mohammed Abbas, is set to play Spanish champion Borja Golan on Tuesday.

England's veteran tour player Mark Chaloner was the star of the opening day's play in the first PSA Super Series event of the year when he upset Egypt's eighth seed Karim Darwish in the first round of the PSA Qatar Masters at the Khalifa International Squash Complex in Doha.

The world No23 from Lincolnshire (a former top ten player) recovered from two games down to overcome Darwish, who boasts a career-high world ranking of five, 13-15 8-15 15-11 15-2 15-6 in 77 minutes. Darwish's display was in stark contrast to his achievement twelve months ago when he pulled off the shock result of the tournament by removing Canada's defending champion Jonathon Power at the second round stage.

There was further Egyptian disappointment in Doha when 13th seed Omar Elborolossy also fell by the wayside. France's unseeded Renan Lavigne battled for 64 minutes to overpower the world No15 from Cairo 7-15 15-11 15-9 17-14 to set up an all-French clash with his best friend and training partner Thierry Lincou, the top seed.

Lincou, who became France's first ever world No1 at the beginning of the year, was fully extended by his first round opponent Olli Tuominen and had to dig deep to conquer the Finn 7-15 15-6 15-13 7-15 15-8 in 73 minutes.

"I never expected him to play so well. He covered all my shots and I got sucked into tense rallies," Lincou told the Gulf Times afterwards. "The last time I played him I beat him 3-0, so I was not prepared for this," added the Frenchman.

World champion Amr Shabana became Egypt's lone victor on the first day of first round action in the Platinum Super Series event when he beat Canada's Egypt-born Shahier Razik 15-10 15-8 15-13 in 42 minutes. The left-hander from Cairo was delighted to have made a solid start in the first Super Series event since last December's World Open in Pakistan, which he won to become Egypt's first ever world champion.

Nicol beat Zaman in 38 min photo © 2004, The Peninsula

England's No3 seed Peter Nicol cruised into the second round with a straightforward 15-13 15-4 15-9 victory over Pakistan's Mansoor Zaman in 38 minutes. The 2000 champion has just returned from a charity expedition to the Everest region of Nepal - in which he raised more than £15,000 - and acknowledged that the break had done him good.

“It was a good workout for me. Although I have not played for nearly four weeks, I never felt it was a tough match. I feel I am in good condition after my trip to the Himalayas. I feel I can play good squash after the rest that I have got," said the former world No1. "Mansoor played a tight game in the first set. I thought Mansoor had an exceptional first set and he nearly won that because I took my time to settle into the match," remarked Nicol.

RESULTS: PSA Qatar Masters Squash Championship, Doha, Qatar

1st round:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Olli Tuominen (FIN) 7-15, 15-6, 15-13, 7-15, 15-8 (73m)
Renan Lavigne (FRA) bt [13] Omar Elborolossy (EGY) 7-15, 15-11, 15-9, 17-14 (64m)
[5] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Shahier Razik (CAN) 15-10, 15-8, 15-13 (42m)
[16] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Rodney Durbach (RSA) 15-11, 15-17, 15-6, 10-15, 15-4 (76m)
[3] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt Mansoor Zaman (PAK) 15-13, 15-4, 15-9 (38m)
[15] Paul Price (AUS) bt Moh'd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 15-12, 15-10, 8-15, 15-8 (50m)
Mark Chaloner (ENG) bt [8] Karim Darwish (EGY) 13-15, 8-15, 15-11, 15-2, 15-6 (77m)
[11] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Nick Taylor (ENG) 15-12, 15-7, 15-10 (42m)

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2004. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 102, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2004 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.