 WHAT
A BEAUTIFUL
TOURNAMENT
WE HAD ...
Framboise rounds up the event
and thanks those who helped us to cover it ...
Yes, it was a beautiful tournament, the 2004
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open was.
Well, I’m bound to say that, aren’t I? A fantastic win for a great young
(yes, for me, he is VERY young) French athlete, who worked very very hard
at his craft. And a fantastic journey for another young man, Nick Matthew,
another hard worker: “A lot of people around me got through because they
were gifted, but I got through on hard work”, Nick said simply during the
Super Series Finals. So, a fantastic final for both, and “la plus belle
victoire de ma carrière”, “the best win of my career” for Thierry.
And that tournament really gave us some great
performances.... (says she, as she didn't see ANYTHING!): Hisham Ashour,
who played a marathon against Australian Cameron Pilley, to get in the
main draw and play his compatriot Omar Elborossy; Adrian Grant,
starting slowly against Azlam Iskander, and creating the choc of the
tournament by ejecting Peter Nicol; Amr Shabana, losing 0/2 against
a very dominant James Willstrop, coming back to claim the match 3/2; and
of course, same course for Lee Beachill, digging in deeper than he
ever did to come back against John White.
So, the change of scoring, supposed to privilege the flamboyant attacks
actually seems to suit “long runners” more than anybody else… During this
tournament, Adrian Grant, whose game is solid, from the back of the court,
looking for length and width, created the shock of the event by
eliminating Peter Nicol, and who do we find in the last four? Lee
Beachill, David Palmer, Nick Matthew and Thierry Lincou.
I rest my case.
Guys, squash is a sport where DISCIPLINE is King. So, make it in 21, 15,
11, 9, American scoring, English, Chinese, I’m telling you something: if
Jahangir was back today, he would still kick everybody’s butt….
THANK YOU ...
Squash Player would like, well, I mean Steve Cubbins and
myself, would like to thank all the people that have helped us to cover
this magnificent 2004 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open, in two languages.
We start with Iris Chung, Press Officer for Hong Kong Squash, who
has been passing on to us the results, the photos, always in time, always
with a smile, always with charm.
Howard Harding, World Squash Media Director, whose reports whose
reports (based on the information he got from Colin McQuillan) are
clear, concise, yet complete.
Then there is the wonderful
Alex Wan, whose photos have lightened
our columns, and whose reports, incisive, precise and extensive have been
helping us get more details about the event.
And last, but definitely not least,
Malcolm Willstrop, who has been faxing us previews of every
day's play, then match reports, plus his “asides” to give us a feel for
the atmosphere of the place, and that's before he even started looking
after his players! Thank you Malcolm.
All those people have made this coverage a beautiful piece of journalism.
Thank you all ...
Thanks also for additional photos from Steve Line and
Fritz Borchert which helped to make it look
good. |
Iris Chung
Alex Wan
Malcolm Willstrop |
