Bad day for England as World and
British Champions fall in first round
Steve Cubbins and Alan Thatcher report
Qualifying over, the $100,000 Cathay Pacific Hong Hong Squash Open moved onto the perspex court in the Hong Kong Park indoor games hall, and the first match produced one of the shock results of the year.
Champion for the last two years, World Champion Peter Nicol looked to have regained top form with victories in the Super Series Finals and Scottish Open in June, and the Scot-turned-Englishman regained the world #1 spot only this month. It was a Frenchman that was his undoing here though, as Thierry Lincou, ranked 20 in the world, played attractive, intelligent squash to defeat the reigning champion 15/12 5/15 15/12 15/8 in 66minutes.
A further major shock in the men's event saw Finland's qualifier Olli
Tuominen beat highly-fancied Scottish #1 John White 15/13 15/9 15/10 in 51 minutes. Australian-born White took over Nicol's top Scottish position when Nicol 'defected' to England earlier this year.
The final match on the showcourt proved to be a thriller, as Martin Heath, Heath, the 28-year-old from Oban, who is now based in Nottingham, prevented a wipeout day for the "Scots", as he came back from 1/2 and 7/13 down to defeat Canada's Graham Ryding, 15/14 in the fifth.
In the final men's match of the day there was another shock - 10th seeded British champion Lee Beachill became the latest victim of Egypt's rising star, World Junior Champion Kareem Darwish felling Beachill 13/15 15/9 15/10 15/12 in 56 minutes.
England veteran Chris Walker, who reached the British Open final in June a day short of his 34th birthday, beat young Dutchman Tommy Berden and now faces Lincou. It was a bad day for Nicol's training partners, Tim Garner and Peter Genever. Garner lost to Wales's 2000 British Open champion David Evans, while Genever went out to England's former world No.4 Paul Johnson, who now meets Tuominen.
Women's World Champion Carol Owens has announced that she, too, is to switch squash nationality, moving from Australia to New Zealand. The 30 year old from Melbourne started the $63,000 women's first round off at the Hong Kong Squash Centre, and looked less than assured in progressing to the second round, beating double world junior champion Nicol David 9/5 9/2 9/7 in 30 minutes.
The only upset in the Women's event was the dismissal of 15th seed "Hot Bot" Vicky Botwright by qualifier Liz Irving - although as a former world #3 Irving's position is more to do with lack of tournament play than anything else, and she didn't have to play a match in qualifying, so perhaps it wasn't such a shock after all ...Round One Day One Results | Day one Photo Gallery