|
|
Colombo Open 2007,
12 - 14 Oct,
Lisbon, $6k |
14-Oct, Final:
[2] Emma Beddoes (Eng) bt [1] Tricia Chuah (Mas) 9/7, 9/5, 9/5
(43m)
Maiden title for Beddoes
England's Emma Beddoes collected her first WISPA title as she
overcame top seed Tricia Chuah in the final of the Colombo Open,
Portugal's first professional women's event. |
|
Tricia Chuah has a wealth
of WISPA Tour experience, but perhaps it was the expectation that she
should win the inaugural Colombo Open in Lisbon that was weighing
heavily upon her.
Despite the warm day, the mere 420 stores (and 64 food outlets) at the
Centro Colombo mall had no shortage of window watchers, fitting room
flow and pin numbers being entered. Thousands would peer at the all
glass court in the central atrium, surrounded by seating, TV monitors
and squash enthusiasts.
Those that did saw a nervy start from the top seed from Malaysia as
she sought her second WISPA Tour title. She was zeroing in on the tin
too often while for all her Tour inexperience Emma Beddoes started
with the same composure and rhythm that had characterised her semi
final win over Karen Kronemeyer.
She had carried herself into the final with conservative play, and now
in it she was generally keeping Chuah out of the forward areas. The
first five points were hers before Chuah notched up her first.
The top seed was looking serious, tension yet to fully dissipate and
free up her swing. Slowly though she did edge into the match and start
to make inroads against the 22 year old from Leamington Spa. Not near
enough though as Beddoes eventually profited from a weak tinned boast
to take the first game.
Conventional wisdom was that the 38 ranking point gap, inexperience
and tiredness after the semi would see Chuah start to take control
going into the second. As she reached 5/1 it appeared she might, but
she was still looking fragile and Beddoes kept plugging away at her
defences. When the English girl had climbed to parity at five all she
only needed one further hand to win the second game too.
The full bleachers still half expected a top seed surge. A shift in
control. But still it didn’t come. Surely the language student would
be tiring; perhaps choking a little as the reality of how close she
was getting to a win sunk in. Not a bit of it.
Chuah was looking more and more discomfited by her own level of
performance, and completely unable to dominate on an enduring basis.
A final error on the first Beddoes match ball ended her torture, and
began the celebration for her opponent. Beddoes had her first Tour
title, announced her arrival and fuelled a rankings rise.
The other winner was squash in Portugal. From general media and public
anonymity a week of top class activity in the centre of Iberia’s
largest mall / entertainment centre had stimulated exposure and
interest from all quarters. Luis Barbosa, partner Antonio
Morais and their team were tired but elated with their stunning
staging success.
Also very impressed was Jogo Belmiro de Azevedo. The owner of
the nation’s largest private corporation which includes Centro Colombo
plays squash every day. And he ensured that this day was no exception
as he took to the glass court himself after the final for a game to
see what playing with a white ball was all about. He then presented
the trophies, still in playing gear, and professed himself delighted
with what he had witness from the girls and the Ramy Ashour match with
Gregory Gaultier which followed.
A repeat next year is now very much on the cards, which will be music
to the ears of those who missed out this time round but will hear of
Lisbon’s special atmosphere and hospitality from everybody who
competed.
|
 "I
badly wanted to win and perhaps I put too much expectation on myself.
I tried to play perfect squash but it really only worked out one rally
in ten."
 "I’m
speechless ...
"I didn’t come to Lisbon with any expectations after my illness. The
game last night was hard and I did wake up a little tired but I
thought that this was the last match left so I should try and push
through it……….Now my legs feel like lead!"
 |
|
Men's
Final: Ramy Ashour bt Gregory Gaultier
11/5, 8/11, 13/11, 11/6
Ramy & Greg treat the Lisbon crowd
 If
Ramy Ashour and Gregory Gaultier are the next decade of the men’s
professional game, then this period is going to be something very
special!
They may have only been playing an exhibition match in the Centro
Colombo in Lisbon, but they are the Ferraris of the game - sleek and
powerful, with great acceleration, so very smooth, and a great turning
circle too!
Ashour, who is so ‘ashoured’ on and off the court, showed tricks that
a player of a mere twenty years of age shouldn’t have acquired yet.
Gaultier, four years his senior, had more than enough of his own to be
the perfect foil. The scoreline was almost immaterial as the gallery
enjoyed an extended bout of rumbustious rallying, so often finished
with sublime winners.
That they can do the same in the intensity of major championships too
means that the pair will draw crowds wherever they perform.
For the record Ashour won in four, but the real winners were the
spectators who were treated to great cut and thrust, deception and
trickery. Promoter Luis Barbosa, denied a single point by Gaultier in
their semi final, even told the Frenchman that he would be welcome
back despite this awful lapse in protocol!
|
 |
|
13-Oct,
Semi-Finals:
[1] Tricia Chuah (Mas) bt Fiona Moverley (Eng)
7/9, 10/9, 9/1, 7/9,
9/1 (48m)
[2] Emma Beddoes (Eng) bt [6] Karen Kronemeyer (Ned)
9/5, 5/9, 9/5, 9/6 (63m)
Tricia squeezes home
WISPA reports from Lisbon
The glass dome above the Central Plaza was now dark as evening
enveloped the Centro Colombo in Lisbon for the semi finals of the
WISPA Colombo Open. While the origin of the name of the city was
serene harbour – named by the Phoenicians – top seed Tricia Chuah
was feeling anything but serene after a a tussle with unseeded
Fiona Moverley which she later described as nerve-racking.
The English girl started steadily and generally forced Chuah back. She
took the first and there was a hint of a surprise on the cards. And as
Moverley started to eat into Chuah’s 7/1 lead in the second the hint
became yet stronger. But when the relieved Malaysian eventually
managed to close at 9/7 then easily take the next it seemed that she
was on course to reach her first WISPA final since 2005.
However, Moverley was not proving easy to dislodge in a tense fourth
she took advantage of looser Chuah play to level. The decider was more
of a procession for the top seed as she regained her composure.
Having come to this event unseeded and to make the semis Moverley had
served notice that as she begins to get into more events her ranking
will rise.
Beddoes bests Kronemeyer
As the crowds swirled doing some late night shopping – and that is
what it really is in Lisbon where the mall doesn't close until
midnight – what was arguably the best match of the event so far
unfolded.
The combatants Emma Beddoes and Karen Kronemeyer fought
out a four game match that tipped over the hour mark. Rallies were
long, the whole court the battlefield. But while it was a fight, it
was certainly not in the literal sense. Indeed, Beddoes refused to
take a stroke that would have given her a game ball, telling the
referee that a let would suffice. Sportmanship of the highest order.
As for the ebb and flow of the match, the first game was characterised
by very solid and sensible play from Beddoes, trying to avoid the rash
shots that would let her opponent in. She took this, and was steady in
the second until five all was reached; where a few tired looking
errors led to the scores being levelled. It was gruelling and perhaps
she was spent.
However, she continued to go to toe to toe with more experienced
Kronemeyer as both players gave the crowd much to relish, and despite
the lengthy rallies hung on to win.
The final place was not the first for the 22 year old from Leamington
though. That had come in the Canadian Sun & Surf event in August. This
one was especially sweet as she hadn’t been expecting it.
There is a great final in store, or more correctly amongst stores ...
 |
 "This
week will give me confidence as I am going across to Dublin to try to
qualify at the Leinster Open next week."
"I knew that she played alright and when she caught me up I panicked a
bit. Towards the end though I got bit more comfortable doing what I
wanted to do rather than hit and run. Everything came together in the
fifth but I don’t know why it took so long!"
 "I
had a kidney infection that put me out for ten days – and it was
painful so I wouldn’t recommend it! It did mean that I was short of
match practice but I made up for that with good games here."
"I had never seen Karen play before but people I asked said that she
is good on the volley and holds the ball well. She certainly had me
guessing as she really did delay well. It was a very tight match and I
am really delighted to get through. Now I just hope that I am alright
for tomorrow."
 |
Southern comfort for WISPA
As Lisbon is the second most southerly Capital city in Europe it has
more than its fair share of sunshine. But despite very blue skies the
Centro Colombo was awash with shoppers when the quarter finals of
the WISPA Colombo Open began.
Most passers-by were having their first experience of squash, while it
was similarly the first time for WISPA in Portugal. |
The most
Southerly
Capital in Europe is ???
>>>
ATHENS
Portuguese get
their
priorities right ...
Eastern European advice
Dutch debate
 |
|
Quarter-Finals:
[1] Tricia Chuah (Mas) bt [8] Lucie Fialova (Cze)
9/2, 9/1, 9/5 (37m)
Fiona Moverley (Eng) bt [3] Milou Van Der Heijden (Ned)
8/10, 9/7, 9/1, 9/2 (41m)
[6] Karen Kronemeyer (Ned) bt [4] Birgit Coufal (Aut)
9/2, 9/2, 9/4 (27m)
[2] Emma Beddoes (Eng) bt [5] Daniela Schumann (Ger)
9/1, 9/7, 9/4 (28m)
Top two through but
three and four crash ...
WISPA reports from Lisbon
In a match where the duration belied the scoreline Malaysian Tricia
Chuah became the first player to reach the last four. The top seed
found opponent Lucie Fialova beginning to settle into a rhythm on
glass after a sluggish start. From being prompted into the corners, the
Czech eventually began to reverse the process and the third became a
close tussle before Chuah prevailed in 37 minutes.
Fialova may look forlorn on court but, smiling off it, professed herself
happy with the match. "I have never played her before and this was also
the first time playing a top thirty player," she said. "I was pleased
with the way I played and I take it as a good experience so I am happy
with that."
Chuah, who soon moves training base from Amsterdam to England, will
match up against a girl from that country in the semis. Unseeded
Fiona Moverley had already beaten seventh rated Lauren Selby and she
continuing scattering seeds when she removed Milou Van der Heijden.
The prodigious sixteen year old Dutch girl had reached game ball at 8/6
in the first before closing out after setting. After the first was lost
the Sports Science student from Hull again found herself down, this time
at 6/1, before stepping forward more continuously and levelling. After
that Van Der Heijden was broken and the strength of Moverley carried her
onward.
Asked about the match, Moverley commented "I hadn’t seen Milou play
before and didn’t expect to win so I just went for it. I was
disappointed to lose the first but I thought that she was under more
pressure than me so I kept just playing."
Dutch presence was ensured in the last four though as sixth seed
Karen Kronemeyer nullified the thrusts of Austrian Birgit Coufal.
Her sixth seeding reflects a return after a spell away, but the former
Australian has sneaked inside the world top forty and so the climb back
continues on the back of wins such as this.
She now plays second seed Emma Beddoes, who found opponent
Daniela Schumann ever willing to chase, but too many efforts were
ultimately fruitless.
As Beddoes commented, "It was hotter during the day today and the ball
was lively and sitting up. Danni runs hard so I had to step up and
volley more."
Since she said that she had enjoyed the evening conditions better she
will have a second chance as she tries to thrive against Kronemeyer in
tonight’s semi finals ... |
|
COLOMBO MEN’S INVITATION
Quarter-Finals:
Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt Andre Lima (Por)
9/2, 9/2, 9/2, 9/2
Dylan Bennett (Ned) bt Matthew Theodoris (Eng)
9/4, 9/7, 9/3
Luis Barbosa (Por) bt Hugo Cabral (Por)
9/3, 9/2, 9/6
Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt Joao Caiano (Por)
9/4, 9/4, 9/0
Semi-Fiinals:
Ashour bt Bennett 9/5, 9/3, 9/4
Gaultier bt Barbosa 9/0, 9/0, 9/0
Greg bites the hand that feeds ...
 You
have to admire the nerve of Gregory Gaultier. He is clearly a
risk taker. For when you play against the guy who holds your fees for
the weekend it is surely not wise to whitewash him! Especially when a
bunch of the Euros were flashed in front of his face to remind him!
But that is precisely what the Frenchman did, in a most entertaining
way, when he ended up playing Colombo Open promoter Luis Barbosa.
It was originally Spaniard Borja Golan who was scheduled to be pitted
against Gaultier but an injury at the US Open put paid to that so serial
national champion Barbosa, now aged 43, stepped into the breach to add
to his organising duties.
 They
met after the locally based players had been despatched the previous
evening, and it was all too often that Barbosa found himself trying to
go three ways at the same time – only to have found that the ball had
gone in a fourth direction!
Unlike the shoppers who were merrily spending, he couldn’t buy a point …
literally!
It was a feeling that Dylan Bennett felt at times as he acted as
stooge to the sublime skills of Ramy Ashour. He did manage to
show his own expansive skills, much to the enjoyment of the full
gallery, but there was only ever one going to be one winner.
The appetizer finished, the main men’s dish is something to savour
tomorrow ... |
|
 |
12-Oct, First Round:
WISPA women take squash to Lisbon
WISPA reports from Lisbon
In a setting befitting a major championship, many WISPA players took to
a glass court for the first round of the Colombo Open in Lisbon.
The ASB court, complete with glass floor, sat in the Central Plaza of
the Centro Colombo, is immediately surrounded by seating stands, and
further back over 400 stores. The latter teemed with shoppers laden with
bags, clear evidence that they were beginning their weekends with a
little retail therapy while also peering at a sport that was on their
radar for the first time.
The first WISPA event in Portugal, part of the WISPA Premiere Series
linking new countries, is the seriously competitive facet of a programme
that has already seen top players Rachael Grinham and Nicol David
playing exhibitions and jousting with local enthusiasts. Stellar men
Ramy Ashour and Gregory Gaultier, along with Dutch top liner
Dylan Bennett had also landed to take on Portuguese before playing
each other later in the weekend.
 Eighteen
year-old Parisienne Coline Aumard summed up the reaction of
several of the players after she exited the see-through box. "The floor
was an especially new thing for me, as I was unused to the grip," she
said. "But it was really nice to play in a big arena for the first time
and I had great fun."
She had gone down to Austrian Birgit Coufal, originally
from Vienna but now Cardiff, Wales based while she studies broadcast
media.
Although Maud Duplomb the other French entry also lost, she did
take a game from nineteen year old Czech number one Lucie Fialova,
now coached by Egyptian Amir Wagih, and was only a few tighter rallies
away from taking her match to a decider.
Although most Brits migrate to Southern Spain to follow the sun, five
players were blown off course and were competing in Lisbon. Only two
survived to the quarters, with the winners doing so by courtesy of a win
against a countrywoman. While second seed Emma Beddoes beat
namesake Emma Chorley, Hull based Fiona Moverley had to
overturn the seedings with a win over seventh rated Lauren Selby.
The Dutch could also boast two winners. Fast improving Milou Van Der
Heijden, still only 16, had brother Dylan Bennett conveniently in
town and able to be in her corner while Karen Kronemeyer, the
matriarch of the field aged only 26, eased past Slovakia’s talented
Linda Hruzikova.
 Top
seed Tricia Chuah was untroubled by Dane Kira Petersen;
and a relieved Daniela Schumann made up the quarters field hours
after being reunited with her luggage which was finally disgorged from
Lisbon airport nearly a day after she had been.
It is reputed that up to 70,000 people pass through Colombo on a weekend
day. So that will be quite an audience then! |
Men's Challenge Results
Ramy with Portuguese
#1 Andre Lima
Selby & Moverley |
Colombo Open 2007
12 - 14 Oct,
Lisbon, $6k |
Round One
Oct
12 |
Quarters
Oct 13 |
Semis
Oct 13 |
Final
Oct 14 |
[1] Tricia Chuah (Mas)
9/0, 9/1, 9/1 (21m)
Kira Peterson (Den) |
Tricia Chuah
9/2, 9/1, 9/5 (37m)
Lucie Fialova |
Tricia Chuah
7/9, 10/9, 9/1, 7/9, 9/1 (48m)
Fiona Moverley |
Tricia Chuah
13.30
Emma Beddoes |
[8] Lucie Fialova (Cze)
9/4, 7/9, 9/6, 9/5 (45m)
Maud Duplomb (Fra) |
[3] Milou Van Der Heijden (Ned)
9/0, 9/4, 9/5 (24m)
Irena Critchley (Eng) |
Milou Van Der Heijden
8/10, 9/7, 9/1, 9/2 (41m)
Fiona Moverley |
[7] Lauren Selby (Eng)
9/2, 9/7, 9/5 (32m)
Fiona Moverley (Eng) |
Linda Hruzikova (Svk)
9/4, 9/2, 9/0 (29m)
[6] Karen Kronemeyer (Ned) |
Karen Kronemeyer
9/2, 9/2, 9/4 (27m)
Birgit Coufal |
Karen Kronemeyer
9/5, 5/9, 9/5, 9/6 (63m)
Emma Beddoes |
Coline Aumard (Fra)
9/5, 9/5, 9/1 (26m)
[4] Birgit Coufal (Aut) |
Claire Kidd (Sco)
9/6, 9/1, 9/5 (30m)
[5] Daniela Schumann (Ger) |
Daniela Schumann
9/1, 9/7, 9/4 (28m)
Emma Beddoes |
Emma Chorley (Eng)
9/2, 9/0, 9/1 (27m)
[2] Emma Beddoes (Eng) |
Lisbon initiative aims to
boost squash in Portugal
Squash in Portugal is not a big sport. There are around 150 courts in
the country, centred primarily in Porto and Lisbon.
However, this week is seeing a major initiative in a bid to raise the
profile of the sport.
Former national number one Luis Barbosa had long harboured the
ambition to bring squash to the attention of the public, and he has
certainly succeeded by bringing al all glass court to the Central Plaza
of the Centro Colombo, the biggest shopping mall in the Iberian
peninsula.
Up to seventy thousand people a day can pass through the literally
hundreds of stores, dozens of eating places, entertainment and leisure
areas. This week they are watching squash too.
After an initial national competition for the last two days World
Champion Nicol David and now three times British open champion
Rachael Grinham have been around to show off their skill and play
local enthusiasts.
David did battle with Paulo Azevedo, the Chief Executive of Sonae,
the largest corporation in the country, while Grinham sent prominent
lawyer Paulo Samagaio to all corners of the court.
Also on hand were top Portuguese pop stars Sergio Rosado and
brother Nelson. Sergio is a regular player, but Nelson was being
gently introduced to the sport by Rachael. The pair reckoned this was
more nerve-racking than playing to live audiences of up to 40,000 as
they normally do!
The media were on hand to witness the action, and they, along with the
general public have heightened enthusiasm for the sport.
 "Here
we have had problems with the loss of our national federation, but we
love our sport. So with the assistance of members of the new federation,
business partner Antonio Morais, Centro Colombo and of course our
sponsors we have tried to reignite interest.
"Hopefully this will lead to us soon entering Portuguese players and
teams in European events, and to build up junior programmes."
But Barbosa, a youthful 43 year-old, he
is not finished yet. This weekend the all glass court sees more
competition. There is the first ever Portuguese WISPA Tour event
featuring players from ten countries headed by top seed Tricia Chuah
from Malaysia, and a men’s invitation event too.
And what a draw that has for the squash enthusiasts of Portugal to
enjoy. Both Ramy Ashour and Gregory Gaultier will be
playing. It cannot get any better than that! And if these two events do
not really cement interest in squash over the eventful week then nothing
will!
|
Elevador Santa Justa. The
famous city public lift inaugurated in 1902
|
 |
|
