First Round:
World Champion and
World #1 bow out
World champion Amr Shabana and world number one
Thierry Lincou were both beaten in the first round of the Sheikha Al Saad
Open in Kuwait, as the turbulence at the top of the men's game continued.
The Egyptian and the Frenchman stunned the sport at the world championships
in Lahore last month; now they themselves were the victims of upsets which
suggested further important changes in the rankings.
Shabana was beaten 13-15,15-4,15-8,15-14 by Lee Beachill, the man who
has hardly looked back since narrowly failing to take England to the world
team final in October, while Lincou lost 15-13,10-15,15-14,15-13 to
Mansoor Zaman, the Pakistani who has fallen outside the top 20.
Shabana's defeat was the result of some sensible containing by Beachill in
difficult, sluggish conditions on a cool, unresponsive outdoor court, as
well as a controversial third game in which Shabana risked seriously
antagonising the referee by constant arguing, and a prodigal fourth in which
he let slip a 9-3 lead.
Once he pulled his shirt over his face to indicate what he thought of a
decision and several times he had to be asked to play on, although Shabana
also contributed some great front court touches and an entertaining sense of
the unpredictable.
Beachill however was not enamoured with the standard of play. "It was such a
scrappy, bitty match, and it was so difficult to be accurate," he said. "But
I was very pleased with the result."
It earned him a meeting with his friend, fellow England international, and
Commonwealth Games doubles partner, Peter Nicol, the top seed.
Lincou's first match after learning that he would become world number one
was his loss in the World Open final. Now his first since being the number
one is a loss which could cost him the pinnacle.
The Frenchman is a long way from being the first to discover that staying at
the top can be harder than getting there, though there may have been other
reasons for what happened here.
Lincou damaged an ankle which caused him to pull out of the Dayton Open and
severely restricted his training since the world championships. "I was
breathing very hard as the match went on today," he said.
This may have been partly why he was unable to capitalise on small leads in
the later stages of both the third and fourth games, although Zaman had
quite another explanation.
"I played very well and I have been working very hard," he said, instantly
agreeing with the suggestion that this was because he was chasing the ten
million rupees offered by President Pervez Musharraf for the next Pakistani
to win the World Open.
Certainly Mansoor lasted a testing encounter well. He also produced some
tight drops at big moments, something he claimed was the result of coaching
from his father, Qamar Zaman, the brilliantly gifted former British Open
champion. Not one to miss a publicity opportunity this fellow.
Conditions, on a conventional club court with a slightly shiny surface and
warm air, were fast and bouncy, tiring and equalising. It was immediately
evident that Lincou would have to work hard to impose himself. He might have
done so but for two match-turning moments.
At 14-all in the third game Zaman gambled on sudden death and produced two
delicious drops to leave Lincou stranded and win the point. Worse followed
for the world number one when he was 12-11 up in the fourth.
Lincou slipped while trying to retrieve a fierce cross court drive and let
out a loud shriek. That was interpreted as an audible obscenity by referee
Ian Allanach who, under the stricter interpretations being imposed for the
culture of a Muslim country, imposed a penalty stroke without warning to put
Lincou 12-13 down.
That dramatically altered the feeling of the contest. Although Lincou got
back to 13-all it was no surprise when a couple of minutes later he whacked
an edgy-looking forehand drive into the tin from deep in the back corner to
lose the match.
Linda Charman's response to frustration was even noisier, but within the
tougher guidelines. After the fifth-seeded English woman had lost 9-5, 9-5,
4-9, 10-9 to the French qualifier Isabelle Stoehr, she marched on to
the adjoining court and kicked her racket around the floor so vigorously
that it sounded as though the boards were being ripped up.
It had seemed as though Charman might escape from trouble. She came back
from two games down to lead 6-0 in the fourth, only to lose seven points in
one hand and to put a backhand drop into the tin on her game ball at 9-8.
Four other seeds fell. The third-rated David Palmer still did not look as
though he had fully recovered from the abductor injury which hindered his
world title defence last month and was beaten 17-16, 15-11, 10-15, 15-11 by
a fellow Australian, the resurgent Joe Kneipp.
And the seventh-seeded Malaysian Ong Beng Hee was beaten by 17-15, 15-10,
15-7 by James Willstrop, the world junior champion from England, who
had played his way into form during the qualifying event in which he beat
the top 20 Egyptian Omar Elborolossy.
In the women's event, the seventh-seeded Vicky Botwright and eighth-seed
Stephanie Brind also went out. However their departures, brought about by
Shelley Kitchen and Tania Bailey respectively, were not entirely
unexpected.
Photos from
SquashPics.com
Beachill beats Shabana
Shabana can't believe it
Lincou's not happy
World #1 down and out
Mansoor congratulated
Top seed Nicol on course
Joe Kneipp v David Palmer
Palmer is out too
Photos from
SquashPics.com
Day Three Results:
Men's First Round: Men's Draw
[1] Peter Nicol (Eng) bt [Q] Hisham Ashour (Egy) 14/17, 15/10, 15/7, 15/6 (52m)
[8] Lee Beachill (Eng) bt Amr Shabana (Egy) 13/15, 15/4, 15/8, 15/14 (61m)
Joe Kneipp (Aus) bt [3] David Palmer (Aus) 17/16, 15/11, 10/15, 15/11 (83m)
[8] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt Martin Heath (Sco) 15/13, 15/13, 15/8 (53m)
Mansoor Zaman (Pak) bt [5] Thierry Lincou (Fra) 15/13, 10/15, 15/14, 15/13 (69m)
[4] Jonathon Power (Can) v [Q] Azlan Iskandar (Mas) 15/8, 15/2, 15/9 (35m)
[Q] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [7] Ong Beng Hee (Mas) 17/16, 15/10, 15/7 (70m)
[2] John White (Sco) bt [Q] Nick Taylor (Eng) 15/11, 15/11, 15/12 (39m)
Women's First Round: Women's Draw
[1] Cassie Jackman (Eng) bt [Q] Raneem El Weleily (Egy) 9/2, 9/0, 9/1 (22m)
Tania Bailey (Eng) bt [8] Stephanie Brind (Eng) 9/1, 9/4, 8/10, 9/5 (54m)
[3] Natalie Grinham (Aus) bt Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy) 9/4, 9/0, 9/6 (26m)
Fiona Geaves (Eng) bt [6] Vanessa Atkinson (Ned) 6/9, 4/9, 9/4, 9/7, 9/1 (43m)
[Q] Isabelle Stoehr (Fra) bt [5] Linda Charman (Eng) 9/5, 9/5, 4/9, 10/9 (76m)
[4] Natalie Grainger (Usa) bt [Q] Madeline Perry (Irl) 9/3, 9/6, 7/9, 9/3 (33m)
[Q] Shelley Kitchen (Nzl) bt [7] Vicky Botwright (Eng) 5/9, 9/6, 9/4, 10/8 (63m)
[2] Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt Jenny Duncalf (Eng) 9/5, 9/2, 9/1 (37m)