FULL DRAW

Asian Champion Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia will encounter stiff resistance in the first round of the Cathay Pacific Squash Open 2002, in the form of English World Number 23 Del Harris.

Ong has been drawn to face the mercurial 33 year-old Harris, who still has both the speed and flair to beat the best. The Malaysian eighth seed has been suffering inconsistent form lately, most notably in the recent Commonwealth Games, where he crashed out in the first round to World No 28 Graham Ryding of Canada.

Ong’s stablemate and World No 1 Peter Nicol, who also trains with coach Neil Harvey, is also expected to have a hard time. Both World No 4 and still improving Australian Stewart Boswell as well as World No 10 Lee Beachill of England are in his half of the draw. Beachill has claimed Nicol’s scalp on different occasions, notably the British Nationals. Nicol will face World No 20 Omar Elborolossy of Egypt in the first round.

Nicol will be highly motivated to do well, however, having lost the Commonwealth Games gold medal to Jonathon Power recently. In the Canadian World No 2’s half of the draw are last year’s Hong Kong Champion and World No 3 David Palmer of Australia; and World No 5 Thierry Lincou of France, who scored a major upset last year when he beat Nicol in the first round.

Beng Hee loses out to Graham Ryding in Manchester

Ong is looking forward to a gold medal in the Busan Asian Games to end his drought on the world stage, reports the New Straits Times

Ong’s personal target for the year was to break into the top four and reach at least the semi-final stage of major tournaments but this did not materialise.

Ong attributed this to him putting too much pressure on himself to achieve the goals which affected his performances.

 He told the New Straits Times:

“I was just trying too hard to win and the expectations of the public was very high. It was frustrating to lose in the preliminary rounds despite preparing well,” said the World No 8 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

“I have done away with my earlier targets and from now on will take one step at a time. The series of defeats and disappointments on the professional circuit has affected my confidence.

“But I am looking forward to the gold medal in the Asian Games. Pakistan’s Mansoor Zaman and Jansher Khan could pose a threat though.

“But my main concern is to regain my confidence. I’m not worried about Jansher’s return,” said Ong.

Full report from
the New Straits Times