Photos by
Bernard Kheng
& Philip Goh

Singapore Open

Samuel Kang bt Low Wee Wern            11/9, 11/4, 11/3 (27m)

The undercard pitted two-time Asian Junior Champion Low Wee Wern against Singapore's Under-19 Champion Samuel Kang. Game one was neck-and-neck, not surprising with both players operating on full tanks -- and stomachs full of butterflies.

You could see why Wee Wern is the best junior in Asia, her game's very much modeled after her fellow Penangite Nicol – nice, compact, speedy, and accurate.

But Samuel Kang was no slouch, and after taking the first 11-9, he seized control of the next two. Never underestimate power, and that's the clear male advantage. With the ball coming back faster, and leaving her less than the usual time to react, mistakes started creeping into the Malaysian girl's game. Samuel took the second 11-4 and the third 11-3 to wrap up the match in 27 minutes.

And immediately after the match, as 18-year-old Wee Wern merrily answered questions from the emcee, all Samuel could do was gasp for air. He may have won, but it sure took a mighty effort.

And just to illustrate the different paths these two teenagers will be taking, here's Wee Wern's:  "I just started playing fulltime professionally. I'll be heading to Amsterdam with Nicol to train with Liz Irving for 3 months. Then I'll see where I go from there."

"I'm 56 in the world right now, so hopefully by the end of the year, I can break into the top 50," she added.

As for 17-year-old Samuel, "I'm studying for my 'A' levels now, so have started toning down my training. I think in Singapore it's kind of hard due to the immense pressure of studies but I'd like to play more after my exams and see how far I can go."

"I'd love to play in the satellites in Malaysia after my 'A' levels. I've been hearing a lot about it and would like to go and play there and find out what it's like."

So, two kids who are similar in age, and one's already a seasoned competitor, and the other's just getting started.
  

Udai Singh  bt Nicol David      11/9, 8/11, 9/11, 11/8, 11/5 (56m)

The Main Event

Onto the Main Event, and what a fight it turned out to be. Without a doubt, the crown favoured Nicol, having very much adopted her as one of their own from way back. As for Udai, he had his supporters but in a Battle of Sexes, you have to be quite stone-hearted to support the guy.

From the word go, it was obvious that Nicol was in for a tough fight. Unlike 24 hours earlier when she held sway over Rachael Grinham, Udai Singh was a different proposition altogether. For starters, he had more power than Rachael, and was taking the ball early.

It meant Nicol, for the first time in the week, was having to play a lot faster than she was used to, and at a greater intensity. And as the game wore on, Udai showed more guile and some subtle touches to boot. His trickle boasts were a real treat to watch.

Udai shot to a 4-0 lead in the first game before Nicol got on the board. And while she didn't look half as comfortable as she did playing Rachael, Nicol had a thing or two in her bag of tricks. And she managed to pull level at 9-9. But that was far as she got as Udai closed out the game 11-9.

Resuming in Game two, it was again Udai who held the early initiative at 5-1, then 8-4. But this was where he started letting up, and Nicol didn't need a second invitation. Catching up at 8-8, Nicol took the next three points to win 11-8 and tied up the match one-all.

Now the fatigue was starting to kick in, and the fans were starting to roar. Nicol won the first point and from then on never relinquished the lead, despite a mid-game comeback from Udai. Despite closing the game to 9-10, it was Nicol who took the game at 11-9 for a 2-1 lead.

It was all starting to get a little serious, no better time for a spot of gamesmanship. Before starting Game four, Udai picked up Nicol's racquet and offered to swap weapons with her. Surely he wasn't about to blame his tools, as a poor workman would? After a few practice rallies, the players swapped back to their own racquets and commenced.

Udai quickly sprung to a 5-1 lead, then yet again allowed Nicol to creep back to 5-3, the 7-6, before going on a mini-run that took him to game point. But Nicol wasn't about to cede, and she got to as close as 8-10 before Udai found the winning point. And now the match was tied at two games all.

The momentum had clearly swung back to Udai for the decider and riding on a second wind, he won the opening three points, and never looked back. Despite allowing Nicol to get as close as 6-4, Udai quickly wrapped things up. 11-5 and a 3-2 win to Udai, leaving the crowd fully appreciative of the 56 minutes of top quality squash.
  

Nicol impressed

Even Nicol was impressed with her opponent: "No doubt strength and speed won out. Udai's definitely a touch player and he works the court really well. Definitely a brutal match, and when I started going for too many shots, it opened up the court too much."

"Looking at some of his delayed shots, and flicks and chips from the front, and his slices from the mid-court, it's nice to watch. So at one point I was watching more than I was going for the shots!"

High praise indeed from the World No 1 for Udai, who does not have any aspirations to be a professional. And he's pleased just to be able to play: "I've watched Nicol play all week, she's pretty ruthless, she the world number one, and there's not really any weakness that I could exploit."

"I had a lot of my friends who were hoping that I'd lose. A couple of them had brought skirts here hoping to force me to wear it if I lost, so that was always at the back of my mind, egging me on when I was gasping for air. So I'm delighted I won!"



Said Della of Ultimate Squashers, "Our thanks to Nicol and Wee Wern who agreed to play quite willingly. We're friends from playing squash over the years, and they know that we're here to promote squash so out of friendship, they are helping us out to promote the game."

Sandra added: "We were not surprised by the outcome, we always knew that the guys would have the upper hand because they are fitter and stronger, but we were always hoping that the girls would kick some butts."

Perhaps next time!

 
  

Thanks to Yap Kok Four for the clip