Kingfisher Player Of The Day


 

 

 

FRIDAY
Friday's winner is, of course, the great Thierry Lincou whose ruthless, precision performance against Joe Kneipp was enough to see him lift his first major title. The word 'machine' was muttered several times in the press room as Lincou ground down his opponent with a breathtaking display of precision squash.

No one in the press office would deny that the Frenchman was a very, very worthy winner of the event. He went about his business all week in a calm, efficient, understated and utterly professional manner. Anyone privileged enough to have seen him practise alone on court on Friday afternoon, would have sensed that he was on his way to something special. A more dedicated and focussed sportsman you would be hard pushed to find.

Just like Arsenal Football Club, the squash world can now boast its own magical Thierry. There's no doubt that Lincou brings his own brand of 'va va voom' to the court and who would bet against him retaining his title next year. Felicitations Thierry!
 
Kingfisher Player Of The Day


 

 

 

 

THURSDAY
Thursday's winner was Joe Kneipp (again) after coming from 2-0 down against John White to win the match.

Thierry ran him close after playing magnificently against Nick Matthew in the other semi - but the general feeling in the Press room was that Matthew looked tired after his exertions against Nicol, Power and White and that the match was perhaps one match too far for the Sheffield man.

Kneipp's comeback, when White had virtually guaranteed himself a place in the final, was one of the performances of the week. The fact that he was the lowest ranked player in the tournament made it all the more remarkable - particularly against White whose form had been excellent throughout the group stage. Remember that the Scot had dropped just one game en route to the last four and was many people's favourite for the title.

So how did Kneipp turn the game so dramatically after seemingly staring a 3-0 defeat in the face? Well, the Australian appeared to draw on his considerable knowledge and experience of White's game to go after him as much mentally as he did with racket and ball. The two have been playing each other since they were kids and Kneipp knew exactly what buttons to press to throw White off his game. Whatever it was, it worked.

Joe's portrait, by Framboise
 
Kingfisher Player Of The Day



 

WEDNESDAY
On a day where there was only one match that had a bearing on who was to contest the semi-finals, there was no disagreement among the assembled press as to the the winner of the Kingfisher Player of the Day award.

Playing what he described to Framboise as "the best squash I've played for a long time," Joe Kneipp, the newcomer to the world's top ten and the Super Series Final debutant, beat world number four Lee Beachill to reach the semi-finals.

So Joe is deservedly Kingfisher Player of the Day.

Joe's portrait, by Framboise
 
Kingfisher Player Of The Day




John White
wins a case of Kingfisher Lager, presented by Kingfisher Marketing Director, Brian Dozey

 

 

 

TUESDAY
There was much heated discussion amongst the assembled ranks of the press as to who should become the second Kingfisher Player of the Day.

Yesterday's winner Nick Matthew found support, for a second win which saw him hand defeat to both last year's finalists.

However, Power was not fully fit, and it's understood that Nick hasn't finished yesterday's prize yet, so the winner had to come from elsewhere.

There was much support for top seed Thierry Lincou, after the Frenchman battled back from a seemingly hopeless position against Lee Beachill. Even Framboise couldn't see him getting out of that one.

Then there was John White, who moved smoothly into the semi-finals with a second successive 3-0 victory.

But it was the sheer power with which the Great White demolished the world number one and three-time Super Series champion that swung the vote.

"Awesome", "Phenomenal", "Imperial" were some of the words used to describe his performance. And Nicol was trying. "If you hear people saying that Peter gave it away, please, punch them in the nose from me," said Framboise (although it's understood that she may not have voted for John).

And so, the second Kingfisher Player of the Day, winning a crate of
product from Kingfisher, the tournament's official beer and water sponsor, is ... John White (looks like he chose the lager!).

Kingfisher is the UK and world's No.1 selling premium Indian lager.
 

Kingfisher Player Of The Day

 

 

MONDAY
Nick Matthew was voted Kingfisher Player of The Day by the squash media in attendance on Day One of the Brit Insurance Super Series Finals.

Matthew received the vote after his stunning 3-0 demolition of World No.1 Peter Nicol in just 31 minutes - his first ever victory against his fellow England team mate.

Another hot contender for the award was England's Lee Beachill after his superb 3-1 victory against World Champion Amr Shabana kicked off the evening's proceedings.

Nick's reward is a crate of product from Kingfisher, the tournament's official beer and water sponsor, presented by Kingfisher Marketing Director, Brian Dozey.

Kingfisher is the UK and world's No.1 selling premium Indian lager.