Sun 30 Nov:
Abbas axes Ricketts,
Power's unlucky break ...
The opening day of the 2003 Qatar Classic, the richest joint men's and women's event of the year, produced a spectacular upset when Australia's sixth seed Anthony Ricketts crashed out in four games to Egypt's unseeded Mohammed Abbas at the Khalifa Squash Complex in Doha. 

Only four weeks ago, the in-form Ricketts reached his fourth successive PSA Tour semi-final after beating world No2 John White in the Canadian Open in Edmonton.  The world No6 from Brisbane took the opening game against Abbas in the Qatar capital, but the 22-year-old world No23 from Cairo fought back to take the next three to claim his shock 12-15 15-7 15-10 15-11 victory in 64 minutes.

Abbas will now face England's ninth seed Lee Beachill, who brushed aside the challenge of Belgian qualifier Stefan Casteleyn 15-8 15-13 15-2 in 31 minutes.

Peter Nicol, the world No1 from England who is seeded to win the PSA Platinum Super Series title for a third successive year, made a hesitant start against world No18 Paul Price.  The unseeded Australian took the opening game, but the defending champion struck back to clinch the match 11-15 15-6 15-11 15-7 in 45 minutes.

The last match of the night, completing the first half of the first round brought Jonathon Power and Nick Matthew into conflict. At one game all and Matthews leading 8-5 the players collided. Jonathon fell to the ground and injured his left hand. The Referee, Wendy Danzey ruled it a 'contributory Accidental injury'. The rules allow the tournament to reschedule the match the next day because it is a split first round.
Power withdraws

Three English players made it through the qualifying finals to earn places in the main draw of the women's event.  Rebecca Botwright did so after fighting back from 0-2 down against Wendy Maitland - beating the Scot 5-9 7-9 9-6 9-4 9-7 in 54 minutes to set up a first round clash with compatriot Tania Bailey, the eighth seed.

Men's First Round (top half):
[1] Peter Nicol (Eng) bt Paul Price (Aus)  11/15, 15/6, 15/11, 15/7 (45m)
[11] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt Shahier Razik (Can) 15/13, 15/9, 15/11 (46m)
Mohammed Abbas(Egy) bt [6] Anthony Ricketts(Aus) 12/15,15/7,15/10,15/11 (64m)
[9] Lee Beachill (Eng) bt [Q] Stefan Casteleyn (Bel)  15/8, 15/3, 15/2 (31m)
[3] David Palmer (Aus) bt [Q] Rodney Durbach (Rsa)  15/7, 15/8, 15/13 (38m)
[12] Joseph Kneipp (Aus) bt Alex Gough (Wal)  15/7, 15/6, 10/2 rtd (40m)
Nick Matthew (Eng) bt [5] Jonathon Power (Can)  8/15, 15/6, 8/5 rtd
[Q] Olli Tuominen(Fin) bt [14] Mansoor Zaman(Pak) 17/16,15/3,10/15,15/14(52m)
Full men's draw

Women's Qualifying Finals:
Carla Khan (Pak) bt Olga Sola (Esp)  9/1, 9/2, 9/2 (24m)
Amelia Pittock (Aus) bt Line Hansen (Den)  9/4, 9/2, 9/6 (30m)
Laura Lengthorn (Eng) v Dominique Lloyd-Walter (Eng)  9/1,5/9,9/3,3/9,9/3 (66m)
Alison Waters (Eng) bt Salma Shabana (Egy) 9/7, 9/2, 9/1 (36m)
Heidi Mather (Aus) bt Eman El Amir (Egy) 7/9, 8/10, 9/6, 9/7 (56m)
Tegwen Malik (Wal) bt Kate Roe (Eng)  9/2, 9/2, 9/1 (20m)
Engy Kheirallah (Egy) bt Vicky Lankester (Eng) 5/9, 7/9, 9/3, 9/1, 10/8 (86m)
Becky Botwright (Eng) bt Wendy Maitland (Sco) 5/9, 7/9, 9/6, 9/4, 9/7 (54m)
Full women's draw

Nicol in Flying Start
as Zaman Loses Thriller
R Ravi Kumar reports for the Gulf Times

Peter Nicol, eyeing a Qatar Classic hat-trick, had to overcome a sluggish start to down his injured Australian challenger in the first round of the $120,000 tournament
yesterday.

The world No 1 from England lost the first game before waking up from his slumber to defeat Paul Price 11-15, 15-6, 15-11, 15-7 in 45 minutes on the Khalifa Squash Complex centre court.

Others who advanced on the opening day of the event were world No 3 David Palmer of Australia and compatriot Joseph Kneipp, Olli Tuominen of Finland, Egyptians Amr Shabana and Mohamed Abbas, and Lee Beachill of England.

Nicol, who won the title in 2001 and 2002, started cautiously against Price who clinched two titles this year to end a three-year drought.

The Australian played a brash brand of squash and opened up a yawning 6-1 lead in the first few minutes as Nicol, who is the Commonwealth gold medallist, struggled with his range.

But Nicol gummed up and levelled 6-6 before his rival inched ahead with a six-point burst for 13-9. The Englishman could add only two more points in the first game before it ended in just 10 minutes.

Nicol, however, had got the measure of Price and the second game was a rout. The defending champion zoomed ahead 7-3 with an array of sizzling shots to which his opponent had no answer. The next eight points came easily as the Australian, known on the circuit as an ace guitarist, started dancing to Nicol’s tune.

The next game followed a similar pattern as Price took a three-minute injury break at the beginning. The injury prevented the Australian from moving freely and Nicol exploited this by shunting him around the court. A late comeback by Price was extinguished by Nicol who next plays Egyptian young gun Shabana.

"I was out in the first round in Canada last week and this win is wonderful for me," said Nicol. "Price got injured...unfortunate for him...otherwise he is a very dangerous opponent.

"The injury restricted his movements," added Nicol.

Palmer, seeded third, had an easy outing against qualifier Rodney Durbach of South Africa but picked up an injury which somewhat stunted the fluid manner of his victory in the third game.

The score read 15-7, 15-8, 15-13 in favour of the British Open champion who is from Lithgow in New South Wales but now residing in Belgium.

Durbach stretched his seasoned rival a bit in the last game but Palmer put it down to the niggling injury he was suffering. "It was due to my injury. I slowed down a bit and he picked up the points," said the Australian.

Tuominen won the battle of young guns on court 1 after edging out gritty Pakistani Mansoor Zaman in a see-saw tussle which meandered into four games 17-16, 15-3, 10-15, 15-14.

The 23-year-old from Finland displayed the hunger so typical of qualifiers who have come up the hard way in his encounter against the only Pakistani in the main draw.

The first game more or less decided the outcome of the match as it went neck-and-neck for most part. At 14-12 Zaman, 23, could have got his nose ahead but allowed his dangerous rival to come back into the game.

With the score levelled at 14-14, a three-point decider was called. At this stage, Tuominen, 24, slipped badly, conceding a crucial point. With the score tied 16-16, Zaman slammed the ball into the tin to fritter the game and his confidence.

"I pulled my leg very badly in the first game after he stepped on my foot when I was going for a shot," said Tuominen. "I could hardly move after that."

The loss of the game thorougly rattled the Pakistani who caved in 3-15 in the next game. "I was very happy after I won the next one so easily. I was injured and couldn't have asked for more," said Tuominen.

The injury however showed up in the third game which the left-handed Zaman pocketed confidently. The win pumped him up but the Pakistani failed to maintain the tempo in the fourth game.

After restoring parity at 14-14, Tuominen called for a one-point decider and put a deft backhand out of Zaman's reach for victory.

"I went short in the third game and failed. I wanted a one point settler as I thought my leg was broken," said Tuominen busy wrapping an icepack around his hamstring. “It will be worse tomorrow.”

Abbas delivered the biggest upset of the day when he defeated Australian Anthony Ricketts 12-15, 15-7, 15-10, 15-11 in a little more than an hour.

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