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November 29, 2003, ©2003, Team Kneipp               < see also Team Kneipp Index >

by Dan Kneipp

Some of the players ranked between 50 and 100 are going to be very annoyed. These are the players that would normally give an arm or a leg to be in the first round of qualification at a Super Series event, especially if the event is the biggest event of the year aside from the World Open. Ten players who had a position in the first round of qualifying in Qatar didn’t turn up. 10! That is a ridiculous number of no-shows. Of the ten players I don’t know why nine of them didn’t turn up. I know Wael El Hindi’s reason and it’s painful.

Earlier in the year Spanish player Borja Golan had a frustrating result in the Tournament of Champions qualifying event. The rules are very specific for qualifying. All of the players entered into qualifying have to be at a designated meeting area at a set time, and then the draw is done. If you are late for this meeting your spot is either left vacant, or given to the next highest ranked PSA member who is available – which is almost always a local player. In New York the qualifying draw was done at the New York Athletic Club. Borga flew from Spain to attend the event, but got the times mixed up and arrived at the club 30 minutes late. His position was given to someone else and he received a zero on his ranking for that tournament.

El Hindi is here in Doha. Like Borga he turned up for the event at the wrong time, but unlike Borga he has been on the tour for years and wouldn’t normally make this mistake. But there’s more to the story. We received an email from PSA last week announcing that the time of the meeting for the qualifying draw had been rescheduled and would now be held earlier. This email had been sent to all of the main draw players (it doesn’t affect Joe in the slightest), the qualifying players, and even the reserves. But for some strange reason El Hindi wasn’t included in this mass email, so despite being in Doha he misses the tournament. Instead of getting a first round bye as a seed, he gets a zero and is forced to watch the tournament from the sidelines. Naturally he is very unhappy with this situation and will be contesting the issue.

There is an annoying flaw in the PSA system of having to turn up. Firstly it means there are often no-shows. It also makes it very difficult for a player to organise his eating schedule prior to his match if he has no idea of the time of the match. Typically the qualifying draw is done at 10am and the first match begins an hour earlier. What time you eat breakfast is going to be very different depending if you play at 11am or 2pm.

WISPA has a system where the qualifying draw, like the main draw, is done well in advance of the tournament. This system allows players to prepare themselves better for a match. The only possible argument for the other system is that it probably leads to more local player inclusion, but seeing as a tournament is able to have a local wildcard and four positions in the qualifying event – this isn’t so crucial.

With qualifying now finished business begins tomorrow.

Qatar Classic 2003 Final qualifying results

Renan Lavigne (Fra) beatt Shahid Zaman (Pak) 12/15, 15/5, 15/5, 15/8 (41m)
James Willstrop (Eng) beat Stephen Meads (Eng) 15/5, 15/6, 15/13 (50m)
Stefan Casteleyn (Bel) beat Tommy Berden (Ned) 7/15, 15/8, 15/12, 15/8 (50m)
Dan Jenson (Aus) beat Farrukh Zaman (Pak) 15/5, 15/12, 15/11 (56m)
Olli Tuominen (Fin) beat Cameron Pilley (Aus) 15/8, 9/15, 15/9, 15/12 (55m)
Rodney Durbach (Rsa) beat Hisham Ashour (Egy) 15/10, 15/12, 15/13 (36m)
David Evans (Wal) beat Davide Bianchetti (Ita) 15/6, 15/6, 15/13 (57m)
Peter Barker (Eng) beat Nick Taylor (Eng) 15/11, 9/15, 15/9, 15/13 (72m)

New draw –
Beachill plays Castelyn
Palmer plays Durbach
Mansoor plays Olli
Ryding plays Willstrop
Parke plays Lavigne
White plays Barker
Lincou plays Evans
Heath plays Jenson

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