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 Alexandria
Sporting Club Open 2006
18/23 July, Egypt, $10k |
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23-Jul, Final:
[1] Amr Mansi (Egy) bt Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy)
11/6, 11/8, 6/11, 7/11, 11/8 (89m) |
Mansi
wins the Marathon ...
and his first title
Tameem El Weleily reports
 It's
hard to support or cheer when two of your close friends are competing, you
just encourage them and hope it’s a good game and that may the better man
win.
That was the case today, and it was Mansi, was playing in his home town,
who had the enormous support that helped him to win the 3/2 thriller
battle that lasted for 89mins, claiming his first PSA title.
 The
match saw two spirited fighters showing off their best squash and their
great physical abilities. Omar started the first game very well, taking
the lead 4/0, making the crowd silent.
Omar's first wasted shot was Mansi's wake up call where he started
recovering and getting back to the game, reaching 5/4, and this was when
Amr started putting pressure on Aziz and to win the game 11/6. Second game
was the same scenario till it was 10/7 to Mansi, who was totally tired and
looked like he had lost his breath and it's Aziz's turn to win , but a
great flick from Amr gives him the game 11/8.
The third and fourth were the vice versa where now it's Omar who is
attacking and Mansi looking very tired and raising the flag of surrender,
losing 11/6 and 11/7.
The Final game kept on with the same rhythm, Omar completing his great
performance, looking invincible and unstoppable, taking the lead 6/3 and
getting close to winning the match.
 This
is when the crowd realized that they had to wake up Mansi from his coma,
which they greatly succeeded in doing and again recovered to win the
crucial points and his 1st title by taking the decider 11/8.
Both players really showed off their best, and showed their eagerness to
improve their rankings as both told me before the tour, as their past
month's work is starting to show off and I hope the best for the both in
the their next tour.
Tameem El Weleily |
|
 "Its
my honour to achieve my first PSA title in my home town of Alexandria.
"It was an extremely competitive game against my team mate Omar Abd el
Aziz and thanks to him for a fair game.
"My family ... I couldn't have done it without you… My friends you
made each minute of the game counts…
"Thanks Timmy for your great coverage, and finally to my coach Mohamed
Medhat - I owe you!'
Amr Mansi |
 "I'm
so upset at losing, but thanks god for this performance this weekend.
I'm looking forward to the Rotary Open.
"Thanks goes to my father who is always supporting me."
Omar Abdel Aziz |
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Amr &
Omar, the finalists ... |
Alexandria
Sporting Club Open 2006
18/23 July, Alexandria, Egypt, $10k |
Round One
Jul 20 |
Quarters
Jul 21 |
Semis
Jul 22 |
Final
Jul 23 |
[1] Amr Mansi (Egy)
11/0, 11/7, rtd
[LL] Mohamed Elkeiy (Egy) |
Amr Mansi
2/11, 11/6, 11/7, 11/5
Amr Ramzy Swelim
|
Amr Mansi
8/11,11/6,11/2,11/7 (62m)
Badr Abdel Aziz |
Amr Mansi
11/6, 11/8, 6/11, 7/11, 11/8 (89m)
Omar Abdel Aziz |
Ahmed Mohsen Hassaan (Egy)
8/11, 9/11, 12/10, 11/8, 11/5
Amr Ramzy Swelim (Egy) |
[4] Badr Abdel Aziz (Swe)
3/11, 13/11, 11/8,
11/5
[Q] Omar Elborolossy (Egy) |
Badr Abdel Aziz
13/11, 11/4, 12/10
Yasser El Halaby |
[5] Sherif Moustafa Kamel (Egy)
11/7, 8/11, 11/2,
2/11, 11/3
[Q] Yasser El Halaby (Egy) |
Andre Holderegger (Sui)
11/7, 11/7, 11/4
[6] Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy) |
Omar Abdel Aziz
11/6, 13/11, 11/3
Jan Koukal |
Omar Abdel Aziz
11/3, 11/5, 11/2 (32m)
Sam Miller |
Ahmed Swaify (Egy)
11/8, 11/7, 11/7
[2] Jan Koukal (Cze) |
[7] Sam Miller (Eng)
11/6, 11/9, 8/11, 11/7
[Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (Egy) |
Sam Miller
11/3, 5/11, 7/11, 11,4, 11/9
Ahmed Khalil |
[Q] Ahmed Khalil
(Egy)
11/5, 6/11, 11/9, 11/9
[2] Bader Al Hussaini (Kuw) |
Qualifying:
Finals, 19-Jul:
Yasser El Halaby (Egy) bt Adham Abou Taleb (Ita)
11/4, 11/9, 11/3
Omar Elborolossy (Egy) bt Karim Yehia (Egy)
11/6, 11/6, 9/11, 7/11, 11/2
Omar Abdel Meguid (Egy) bt Mohamed Farid (Egy)
6/11, 11/9, 11/7, 11/4
Ahmed Khalil (Egy) bt Mohamed Elkiey (Egy)
11/2, 7/11, 11/7, 11/9
Round One, 18-Jul:
Yasser El Halaby (Egy) bye
Adham Abou Taleb (Ita) bt Adel El Zarka (Egy)
11/10, 11/7, 11/5
Karim Yehia (Egy) bye
Omar Elborolossy (Egy) bt Ahmed Mehelmi (Egy)
11/0, 11/0, 11/2
Mohamed Farid (Egy) bt Ahmed Shohayeb (Egy)
??
Omar Abdel Meguid (Egy) bt Ahmed Ibrahim (Egy)
11/4, 7/11, 11/6, 4/11, 11/5
Ahmed Mohsen Hassan (Egy) bt Morten Sorensen (Den) 7/11, 11/8,
11/10, 11/8
Mohamed Elkiey (Egy) bye
2005 Event
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22-Jul, Semi-Finals:
Amr Mansi bt Badr Abdel Aziz 8/11,11/6,11/2,11/7 (62m)
Omar Abdel Aziz bt Sam Miller 11/3, 11/5, 11/2 (32m) |
Its
Alexandria vs Cairo
in the final ...
The first semi final started at 7:00 pm between Amr Mansi and Badr
Abdel Aziz, both
players looking very concentrated and determined to fulfil their goal of
reaching the final.
Badr with his Egyptian origin offered a very strong start with no
hesitation in boasting his killing shots during the start up. On the other
hand a disturbed Mansi lost the first game 11/8 under Badr’s pressure.
 Second
game Mansi maintained his performance leading by 5/1 and taking the game
after both players showed their best. The third was the determinant, who
would win this game will win the match as both players have done their
best in the first three games.
Both players started carefully, more patient before throwing their drops
and keeping the rally going. But that didn’t go for long until Badr
started making unforced errors trying to finish the ball by any means ...
however it didn’t work and Mansi succeeded in his aim by missing the tin
throughout the game to win 11/2.
The last was more dramatic with Mansi knowing that it was now or never and
Badr trying to regain some of his nicks and wrong foot shots. However
Masni ‘s fitness started to take its roll. He knew he was obliged not to
lose any ball through those eleven points. He kept fighting and making
some tremendous sprints especially on the points when Badr threatened to
take the lead. He managed to finish the game 11/7 and the match
gaining the respect of all his spectators.
 Second
match in the semis was between Egyptian Omar Aziz and British Sam Miller.
The match barely lasted for 30mins seeing Omar crushing his opponent
trying not to waste any balls or points, which was devastating to Sam who
made it much easier by wasting many of the points due to his unforced
errors.
Omar had no trouble winning the first game 11/3. In the second Sam seemed
a bit more in the game and reached 5/5 but again Omar’s fitness helped him
ending the game 11/5, and finally the third didn’t take much time with Sam
going for his shots which didn’t help him a lot, losing it 11/2.
Tameem El Weleily |
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"Thank
god for my win today, am really happy that I won, because Badr is a
really good player.
I hope I keep it up tomorrow if god wills. Thanks Timmy ..."
Amr Mansi |
"I
am so happy for reaching the final in this tour including these tough
players. Hopefully I can perform good with my mate Mansi in his home
town,and I have no problem with the Audience. Talk to you tomorrow..."
Omar Abdel Aziz |
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21-Jul,
Quarter-Finals:
Amr Mansi bt Amr Ramzy Sweilam 2/11, 11/6, 11/7,
11/5
Badr Abdel Aziz bt Yasser El Halaby 11/10, 11/4, 11/10
Omar Abdel Aziz bt Jan Koukal 11/6, 11/10, 11/3
Sam Miller bt Ahmed Khalil 11/3, 5/11, 7/11,
11/4, 11/9 |
Khalil
falls … but walks Tall:
Tameem
El Weleily reports
There were just four matches for the day to determine the semi-finalists.
First match was between Badr Abd El Aziz and Yasser El Halaby,
two of the tour's risk-takers. Both players go for their shots and take
the risk whatever the score is, and have speed and stamina too. First game
was a great one going point by point when Badr took the lead 10/9 then
Halaby levelled to 10 all and took the lead 11/10 but Badr went for two
shots to clinch the first game 13/11.
Second game Halaby lost track and fell easily 11/4. In the third game
Halaby regained back his form and started attacking again but Badr was
always a step ahead and won the final game also with a tie breaker 12/10.
Secondly came Omar Abd El Aziz and Jan Koukal, a match more
dependent on the basic style both players - patient and rarely go for
their shots except when they are assured it’s a winner First game
Omar forced Koukal at the back of the court, took demand of the T and
managed to win the game 11/6. Second game was very tight and Koukal was
about to win the game but Omar recovered from 9/10 to 13/11 which clearly
devastated Koukal who barely played the in final game and lost it 11/3.
The third match was between the first seed Amr Mansi and Amr
Sweilam. Sweilam started very powerfully and took the first game 11/2.
Mansi seemed a little lost, not knowing what to do, but he had a fresh
start in the second, forcing Sweilam back to his game and won it 11/6. The
third was very similar to the second but Mansi was more aggressive and
focused, winning it 11/7. In the fourth and final game Sweilam seemed
tired and made more unforced errors losing it 11/5. I guess when you play
on your home land its hard to lose.
The final match was between the Dark Horse and Sam Miller
and again Khalil surprised us all. When Khalil lost the first game 11/3 we
all thought that it was over with him and that would be more than
satisfied with his performance in this event. But Khalil proved us wrong
again and recovered greatly, winning the second and third games 11/5, 11/7
and this is when we all Egyptians there in the club gathered to cheer this
great young little fellow and support him .
Sam was constant with his performance the whole match and won fourth game
11/4. The final game was a thriller that ended 11/9 when Khalil made two
unforced errors ending his great long run.
Tameem El Weleily |
 "I’m
very happy … beating two tough players - a legend like Omar El
Borolossy and a young up-and-coming player like Yasser El Halaby and
I’m happy that I’m doing well in Egypt.
"I play for Sweden but my parents are from Egypt and it's home to
me.
"I have big support from my brothers and all Egyptians here, and if
god wills I'll do fine tomorrow."
Badr Abdel Aziz |
"I’m so happy with my performance
today, thank god for the steady concentration all over the three
games.
"I hope I can convert all my training in these past two month in
this tour and talk to you tomorrow ..."
Omar Abdel Aziz |
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"I’m
very happy with my performance, thanks god , I hope I can keep it up
till the end of the tournament. Thanks Timmy ..."
Amr Mansi |
 "A
relief to be in the semis.
"I felt maybe I pushed too hard in the first game and that meant I
couldn’t take as many as volleys for the rest of the match. That,
coupled with Ahmed playing excellent shots made it tough.
"It was a very fair game played in good spirit. Thanks goes to my
English fan."
Sam Miller |
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20-Jul, Round One:
Five
Egyptians in
Alexandria Quarters ...
Tameem
El Weleily reports
Today Alexandria open launched the main draw after Saurav Ghosal the
second seed pulled out and we had to make a redraw … still, the matches
were expected to be on fire ...
The first match was between the fighting-spirited Omar Abd El Aziz
and Andre Holdregger, where Andre started very tough and took the
lead in the first game 7/1. But Omar Aziz had other ideas after recovering
and winning ten straight points to take the lead 11/7 , then winning the
second 11/7 and the final 11/4 after Andre lost all his hopes to win.
Second match was one of the best encounters of the day , a match that we
Egyptians saw dozens of times between both Egyptian players from the same
club Amr Sweilam and Ahmed Mohsen, but it’s always an
unpredictable match. Mohsen started very sharp and was in control of the T
keeping Sweilam at his back and managed to win the first two games
11/8,11/9 and looked half way through to the quarters when he was leading
in the third 10/9 . This is when Sweilam started using his shots to
recover, clinching the third 12/10 and winning the fourth and fifth
11/8,11/5 to reserve himself a place in the quarters.
 The
third match was also totally Egyptian, between Yasser El Halaby and
Sherif Kamel, another encounter that lasted for five games, as was
expected. Halaby upset the local fans who were cheering their club player
Kamel who recovered from 1/0 down and 2/1 down but Halaby kept dragging
Sherif to his game which helped him in exhausting Sherif and winning the
final game 11/3.
The Fourth match saw the fall of the experienced former world no 14 and
Egyptian no 2 Omar el Borolossy at the hands of the Swedish player
Badr Abd El Aziz. Omar was leading 1/0 11/3 but couldn't grab the
second which he lost 13/11 and seemed to be tired from yesterday's
marathon against Yehia. Badr's accuracy and speed made him fall 11/8, 11/5
,shrinking his chances of playing the world open that will be held in
Egypt.
Fifth Match saw Amr Mansi, Alexandria no 1, demonstrating his eager
and steadiness to proof that he deserves to be the first seed after
overcoming Mohamed El Keiy the lucky loser 11/0,11/7, rtd and now
is set to face Amr Sweilam in the quarters.
Next up was Sam Miller and Omar Abd El Meguid, a physical
show from both sides, both players fit and hammering the ball, but
Miller's experience helped him to overcome the 18 year old Omar 11/6,
11/9, 8/11, 11/7.
The seventh match was between the third seed Jan Koukal and the
wild card Ahmed El Swaify. Koukal managed to win in straight games
11/7, 11/7, 11/8 but the match was tight, going point by point each game
before Jan managed with his light body, fast moves and shots to win 3 or 4
consecutive points to give him the game.
Jan will be facing Omar Aziz in the quarters
 The
final match of the day between the tournament's Dark Horse Ahmed Khalil,
the unregistered local player who blasted to the main draws after winning
both his first qualification matches 3/1, against the tournament's second
seed Bader El Hussiani. Khalil struck again and joined the rest in
the quarters after overcoming Bader 11/5, 6/11, 11/9, 11/9. Tomorrow he
will be playing Sam Miller and who knows what this 18 year old youngster
is holding in store for us ...
Tameem El Weleily |
Holderegger & Aziz
Elborolossy & Aziz
Mansi & Elkeiy
Miller & Mequid
Koukal & Swaify |
20-Jul, Qualifying:
Locals
dominate as Omar returns
It was a clean sweep for Egypt in qualifying for the Alexandia Open.
The hardest fought victory of the day was by former world no 14 Omar
Elborolossy, who is making a temporary comeback for the World Open to
be held in Egypt in a few weeks' time.
Omar, having dropped just two points in his first qualifying match, was
taken the full distance by Karim Yehai before he could claim his place in
the main draw.
Another notable name returning to PSA action is Yasser El Halaby,
having completed his four years as the moist successful US college player
of all time.
** Draw changed due to withdraw of Saurav Ghosal, seeded two. |
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