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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
Barada and Nicol with their trophies photo: Mohamed Mosaad
Sweet revenge
By Nashwa Abdel-TawabEgypt's Ahmed Barada captured the Heliopolis squash Open after defeating world No 2 Peter Nicol. The victory enabled Barada, the world's No 3, to avenge his 3-0 loss to Nicol in the final of the Al-Ahram World Mobinil Open in September.
In last week's final, staged in the glass court of Heliopolis Club, Barada swept Nicol 15-6, 15-8, 15-5, the second time the Egyptian has won the $50,000 championship. Barada had taken the Heliopolis Open in 1997 after beating then world No 1, the legendary Jansher Khan.
The last time Barada and Nicol had met in Egypt, Barada fought back tears after losing to the Scot 15-9, 15-13, 15-11 in the $170,000 Al-Ahram championship. This time, however, it was Nicol who found himself playing second fiddle. For his efforts, Barada collected 875 points while Nicol amassed 575 points.
Barada's road to last week's Heliopolis final was anything but easy. He beat Billy Haddrell of Australia 3-0 even though heart problems currently being suffered by his father must surely have weighed on Barada's mind. Still, he went on to defeat Haddrell's countryman John White 3-2. White, ranked 17 in the world, is the owner of the fastest serve in the history of squash, an aspect in his game which gave Barada a handful. White had earlier taken out two of Egypt's best, Amr Shabana and Ahmed Faizi. In the semi-final, Barada beat the world's top-ranked player, Jonathan Power of Canada, 3-2. Ironically, the two had met in the semi-final of September's Al-Ahram championship and the verdict and result were a carbon copy of last week.
Lately, Egypt has become the place to be for the world's best squash players. This year alone, the country hosted five major championships, three of them sponsored by Al-Ahram: the Al-Ahram World Open, the Al-Ahram World Teams Championship, the Al-Ahram International Women's Championship, the Women's World Championship and the just-concluded Heliopolis Open. Sixteen players entered the Heliopolis championship, the eighth of its kind. A couple of upsets were sprung. Haddrell, ranked No 30, beat Paul Johnson of Britain, No 5, in the first round while Egypt's Omar El-Borollossi, ranked 21, blanked Stephan Castellan of Belgium, No 8.
Heliopolis was the last major squash tournament to be held before this month's Dunlop PSA (Professional Squash Association) Men's world rankings. Although Power was seeded second when he played in Heliopolis, he successfully claimed first place in the latest PSA rankings, nudging Nicol out of the top berth.
While neither player has been in action on the PSA Tour since the final of the World Open in Egypt in September, it is the loss of points in the Al-Ahram International in October 1998 (in which Power was a first-round casualty while Nicol reached the semi-finals and lost more points than Power) which influenced the switch in the top two positions in the November list. Power currently has 8,365; Nicol 7,816. They had both wanted to meet in the final but Ahmed Barada, now hot on their heels, had other ideas.
