By ALAN THATCHER | |||
PHEW - IT'S ALL OVER PETER NICOL bounced back from his "blip" at the British Open to win a third consecutive Super Series title at the Broadgate Arena, repelling a fierce onslaught from Australian David Palmer for the second time in three days to win a pulsating final. Peter left the Arena with a broad grin on his face, a cheque for 20,000 dollars in his pocket, and looking forward to continuing his run of form in this week's Scottish Open in Perth. After the final, Peter was interviewed by Sky TV presenter Jill Douglas, a fellow Scot (am I still allowed to say that?), who, like Nicol, is making a name for herself in London. A NON-CONTACT SPORT ? Jill admitted that her great mentor in Scottish television was the rugby commentator, Bill McLaren, and we could have done with his services at times during some extremely physical encounters, most notably the semi-final clash between Palmer and Jonathon Power. Sky viewers loved the drama and controversy, but several spectators muttered their misgivings about the way the game is heading if this kind of behaviour is allowed to get out of hand. TV replays clearly showed Palmer and Power wrestling each other to the floor as they fought to gain control of the front right-hand corner of the court. It was a nightmare match for referee Jill Wood. Every time a player produced a forehand drop-shot, his opponent either ran into his back or grabbed his shirt to drag him into a position where he hoped the referee would award a stroke. I would like to invite the PSA and the top international referees into a darkened room to watch the video and try to work out a formula for controlling this type of incident, which is becoming more prevalent in the modern game. Relations between referees and players are at an all-time low. The players, quite rightly, demand officials of the highest standard to take charge of their matches. Squash is faster than ever before, and the point-a-rally scoring system, coupled with the lower tin, has changed the nature of the game. Most of the world's leading players favour an attacking game, meaning more and more combat fought in the front half of the court. This, in turn, creates problems relating to access and the new rule concerning "minimal interference" has been designed to stop players fishing for cheap points. However, it has produced one unfortunate and unforeseen by-product. If players are denied strokes, when, in their own minds, they clearly deserve them, then they will try to engineer situations to make the decision a little more clearcut for the officials. This, regrettably, means they will often play the man rather than the ball, or, as we saw in London, they will try to drag their opponent into the firing line. All of this is making life impossible for the officials. Coming into the British Open, Jonathon Power suggested the formation of a professional referees' unit, spearheaded by former players, to take charge of the game's big events. Sadly, until such a group is offered enough money to make it worthwhile them giving up their day jobs, I don't see it happening. I also don't see too many ex-players stepping forward to put their necks on the line as referees. Until the two sides can come together and work out a framework for consultation, co-operation and compromise, we will be left with what we have now: confrontation. CONGRATULATIONS to Satinder Bajwa and his event management partners at WSM for staging another magnificent tournament. The standard of play and commitment from the players was higher than for a long time, with two superb semi-finals and a magnificent final providing top-class live entertainment for spectators and viewers on Sky Sports. The Eye Group has led the way in breaking down the barriers that previously prevented live TV coverage of major squash events and, despite the slightly cramped conditions, the Broadgate broadcast was another success. |
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POWER'S MOMENT OF MAGIC JONATHON POWER produced a magnificent moment of his magic in his third-place play-off with Martin Heath, conjuring up a shot of exquisite skill to confirm his reputation as the Great Entertainer Of Squash. Power shaped to play a backhand, faked the shot then turned to allow the ball to drop to his right-hand side, whereupon he played a forehand drop shot into the front-left nick. Heath, completely bamboozled, could only smile at Power's amazing powers of creativity. Both players came over to our TV commentary position after the match to look at the monitor and see the point replayed from a variety of angles. The mood of the play-off was a slight contrast to the brawling encounter between Power and Palmer the previous night! |
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FRIDAY PLACE YOUR BETS GOOD to see a full house at the Broadgate Arena yesterday and tonight will be another sell-out for the final between Peter and David, a perfect match-up of the world champion and recently crowned British Open champion. Peter, having beaten David once already this week, starts as favourite, and last night's tussle will certainly have left David feeling tired. He was constantly holding his back after the mid-court pinfalls and body-checks and he'll certainly need a good massage before tonight's bout. Peter is looking calm, confident and at last getting the measure of this glass court. I"M not really into spread betting but it's only a matter of time before somebody tries something in squash. The let-count would be a suitable subject for a punt and I must ask referee Jill Wood for the respective figures in last night's semi-finals. Whereas Power and Palmer bumped, blocked, pushed, shoved, grabbed and wrestled each other to the floor at every opportunity, Nicol and Heath moved effortlessly around each other and played the ball instead of the man. It was classic squash and the match got better and better as Martin recovered after a slow start to push Peter hard in the third and fourth. I wonder if Martin will have any energy left for partying tonight. Let's just think that through for a moment ... Friday night? In London? Silly question ... TAXI ... TAXI |
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THURSDAY
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE
DUST Dunlop supremo Paul Walters still wants one of his men to do the business though, and at the rate that Jonathon Power is demolishing his rackets they'd better do it quickly, before stocks run out. Power's two-piece racket was on display in the Press room in Birmingham for most of the week - it mysteriously broke just after Power's second round exit. Sky viewers were treated to a bird's eye view of the demise of another racket tonight. Power scrambled into the front corner in a vain attempt to retrieve one of Palmer's drop shots and ended up in a heap on the floor. In frustration he bashed his racket on the floor, right in front of the camera. He looked at the crumpled bat quizzically for a few seconds and then, presumably remembering his earlier conduct stroke for "unacceptable behaviour", or maybe Dunlop's warning that stocks were running low, a look of sheer horror and surprise came over his face. "How on earth did that happen?" viewers could almost hear him exclaim. Sorry Jon, but an awful lot of people know exactly how that racket was broken! Later on in the match Power went off court after another exchange with the Palmer and/or the marker/referee (there were so many it's hard to recall them all!). This time viewers only heard a crash. The referee certainly feared the worst for yet another racket as she issued a "conduct stroke for racket abuse". Fearing the repercussions, Jon exclaimed on his way back onto court, "It wasn't my racket!". Which leads us to the obvious question of just what he did go off court to bash ... |
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WEDNESDAY
NEW BALLS PLEASE ... SLIDE RULES AT THE READY If Power and Parke win then Power will win the group, but the others will all be on one win. If Chaloner and Heath win then three of them will be on two wins. So what's the rules - Tom Maidment explains ... If two or more players are
level on number of matches won, first it goes to a head-to-head between
those players. If that still doesn't resolve the matter, it goes down to
the most number of games won. If still level, it comes down to the number
of games lost. If STILL equal, it goes down to the number of individual
points. Confused? All will be revealed tonight! KNOCK, KNOCK ... Jonathon came on afterwards, dazzling the
handful of spectators in the marquee with his racket skills. |
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LONG DAY AT THE STUDIO
AN EQUITABLE EVENT
WILL THE LAST ONE TO
LEAVE... |
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ONE SPARE SEAT The new Minister, Richard Caborn, was invited to attend but declined due to a prior engagement. World Champion Peter Nicol was looking forward to introducing himself to Ms Hoey again. He said hello to her at the BBC Sports Personality Awards night at Christmas and said: "Hi, we met at the Broadgate Arena." Ms Hoey replied: "Yes, I presented the trophy to Peter Nicol," then walked off... COME ON IN POWER PLAYS |
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