RAWLINSON RETAINS
SCOTTISH DEAF TITLE
England's Brian Rawlinson retained his
Scottish Deaf Open Squash title, beating old adversary David Thompson
in the final in Edinburgh ...Brian Rawlinson
(England) & David Thompson
(Scotland) report from Edinburgh
...
THE FINAL
Had David pitted against his old adversary Brian; they
have played each other countless times over the years, with Brian usually
taking the spoils. David took the initiative by winning the first game 9/7
by keeping the ball tight and deep. In the second David continued in the
same vein by attacking Brian’s game hoping that he would be unable to find
his winning touch that has brought him a number of deaf squash titles in
recent years, and settle into the match, but he lost the advantage when
Brian found his range and touch he lacked in the first game. David manages
to bring the scores level at 6 all, the after making good a simple return,
David allows Brian to reach game point. David manages one last attempt
before losing the game, match score stands at 1/1.
Third Game sees Brian race off to a 6/0 lead before David is able to make
any advances in the game. David manages to only pick up two points in this
game before Brian closes it to stand at 2/1 in games. It looks like David
is saving his energy for the fourth game which he has to win if he is to
stand a chance of keeping the title in Scotland for the first time.
David has won the Scottish Deaf Closed title since 1984 and has yet to add
the Open title to his impressive list of winning the closed titles. The
fourth game is a much closer affair than the previous three games; David
is pulling out all stops to snatch the game at the first opportunity
should Brian shows any weaknesses. David doesn’t know of the meaning of
defeat, even when Brian is standing on the precipice of winning the title
for the third time in a row.
With the score at 8/4; David wins the serve and makes an immediate impact
winning the next two points to eat away at Brian’s advantage. At six
eight, the next rally is perhaps the defining moment of the entire match
when David drove the ball hard into the nick on Brian’s backhand whilst he
makes what appears a failure to make a good return, only to declare that
the ball has burst thus making it unplayable and the rally would therefore
be redundant and a let would be given.
David is sure that the ball is fine and wants to continue the match and is
ready to serve. Brian strongly believes the ball is broken and has thrown
it out of court and has requested a new ball to be brought in.
David is a bit confused maybe he thinks Brian is buying time to recover
before he before realised that the ball was in fact broken. He reluctantly
accepts from Bernard the tournament organiser that the ball was indeed
broken when he illustrates this by squashing the ball against the back
wall glass. The advantage David believed that had so rightly been his
would have brought the scores to 7/8, thus he was cruelly deprived of
closing the gap. It was a mere formality from
then on, as David had lost the momentum to carry though the charge that
had so very nearly brought him within distance of levelling the game
scores, it was an easy matter for Brian to win back the serve and wrap up
the game by taking the last point of what had been a pulsating match which
on paper may not have taken place with respect to the respective illnesses
and injuries each had before the day. Final score
3/1 to Brian he is the champion for the third time.
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RESULTS
Scottish unless noted (E) = England
GROUP ONE
B. Rawlinson (E) beat D. Thompson 5-9, 9-5, 9-3
B. Rawlinson (E) beat B. Starkey 9-2, 9-3
B. Rawlinson (E) beat H. Ramsay 9-5, 8-10, 9-5
D. Thompson beat B. Starkey 4-9, 9-7, 9-2
D. Thompson beat H. Ramsay 9-3, 9-1
B. Starkey beat H. Ramsay 9-1, 9-0
GROUP TWO
L. Banks beat G.Westwood (E) 9-5, 9-6
L. Banks beat I. Preston 9-7, 9-0
L. Banks beat C. Watson 9-3, 9-8, 9-2
G. Westwood (E) beat I. Preston 9-0, 9-2
G. Westwood (E) beat C. Watson 9-0, 9-0
C. Watson beat I. Preston 9-1, 9-5
SEMI-FINAL
D. Thompson beat L. Banks 9-3, 5-9, 9-2
B. Rawlinson (E) beat G. Westwood 9-6, 9-6
PLATE SEMI-FINAL
C. Watson beat I. Preston 4-9, 10-8, 9-5
B. Starkey beat H. Ramsay 9-4, 9-4
MEN'S FINAL
B. Rawlinson (E) beat D. Thompson 7-9, 9-6, 9-7, 9-6
WOMEN'S FINAL
H. Ramsay beat C. Watson 9-2, 5-9, 9-4, 9-7
PLATE FINAL
B. Starkey beat C. Watson 9-1, 9-4, 7-9, 9-1
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