12 - 18 April 2001
Issue No.529
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 April 2001 Issue No.529 |
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The finest in Hurghada
The Red Sea resort will host squash's kings and queens. Nashwa Abdel-Tawab reports
The international world squash circuit moves to Egypt tomorrow with Hurghada providing a spectacular backdrop to two of the world's top events.
The PSA Masters and WISPA Grand Prix Finals, two of the biggest squash showcases for men and women respectively, are expected to attract record crowds and will produce total prize money worth $125,000. Defending champions Peter Nicol and Carol Owens aim to repeat.
This is the second chapter of the PSA (Professional Squash Association) Masters and the fourth for the WISPA (Women's International Squash Players' Association) Grand Prix Finals. Both events are being sponsored by the Al-Ahram Organisation.
The tournaments, to be staged simultaneously at the Marriott in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, are set for 13-19 April. A change of date for the championships, originally scheduled for 25-31 March, was prompted by difficulties in connection with live TV coverage.
Two days of PSA Masters qualifications will first be held in Heliopolis Club.
Nicol will defend his title in a field which will feature the top 32 men in the world. Nicol is a former No 1 -- and a former Scot. For training purposes he took British citizenship. Ten days later, he was nudged off the mountain top by Canada's Jonathon Power, snapping a 14-month unbroken run by Nicol at the top of the PSA list. The new world rankings were announced last week.
The 26-year-old from Toronto, who lost to Nicol in their only meeting this year -- in February's final in the Tournament of Champions in New York -- nipped his great rival as a result of a better points average over the past 12 months accrued in eight events. In two of those, the British and US Opens, Nicol was forced to withdraw following an ankle injury. Power first rose to world No 1 in May 1999.
Wales' British Open champion David Evans retains his No 3 position while Australia's David Palmer jumps to a career-best No 4. Outside the top 40 two years ago, the 24-year-old from Lithgow in New South Wales reached the semi-finals of the British and Florida Opens last year and the Flanders Open last month.
Fellow Australian Paul Price maintains his 5th position, while former Australian John White, now representing Scotland, rises to a best-ever world No 6. The Queensland-born 27-year-old, who now becomes the Scottish No 1 instead of Nicol, claimed his first PSA Super Series title in February when he won the Flanders Open in Belgium. There he beat Nicol in the semi-finals for the first time.
Mixed results have led to drops by English internationals Simon Parke and Paul Johnson, to 7 and 11, respectively. Johnson steps out of the world top 10 for the first time since April 1998. Team-mate Mark Chaloner climbs to No 9, one place below his career-best.
The free fall of Egypt's Ahmed Barada continues. The former world No 3 is now No 10. Barada has chosen not to play in Hurghada, claiming he's not in the mood. But he adds he will enter the Al-Ahram International Tournament to be held towards the end of this year.
Barada's colleague, Omar El-Borolossi, has broken the 20-club barrier for the first time, jumping from 22 to 17 in the world. And the talented Amr Shabana is aiming to improve his 26th rank.
Australians Stewart Boswell and John Williams come into the tournament ranked 14 and 15.
Australian Owens defends her title in a line-up that features eight of the world's best players, including New Zealand's world No 1 and British Open champion Leilani Joyce.
Another threat to Owens is three-time world champion and winner of 40 WISPA tournaments, Australian Sarah Fitz-Gerald. Fitz-Gerald won the first Hurghada Grand Prix title and will definitely be looking for another.
After holding the No 1 ranking for two years, Fitz-Gerald dropped to No 3 after undergoing knee surgery in December 1998 and May 1999. Since returning to competition in January 2000 Fitz-Gerald, the current WISPA president, has won eight WISPA titles, including the Apawamis and Greenwich Opens, the Women's 'Tournament of Champions' and the US and Munich Opens.
England's Linda Charman, No 4, and Natalie Grainger, No 5, are also strong contenders.
No Egyptian woman will compete in Hurghada despite the meteoric rise of Omneya Abdel-Qawi who is now No 1 in the world junior rankings. Abdel-Qawi moves ahead of 17-year-old Nicol David of Malaysia who opted to quit playing for three months to concentrate on school exams.
Abdel-Qawi's 21 world ranking is not good enough for Hurghada. But the remarkable 15-year-old from Cairo played a big role in helping Egypt's team take fourth place, for the first time, in last November's Women's World Team Championships in England. She also won the singles and powered her team to first place in last week's African Junior Squash Championship in South Africa.
Egyptian boys also notched up first place in the team event while Egypt's Yasser El-Halabi came first in the singles.
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