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 Madrid
EN BREF - Issue
#7
everything you never knew
you needed to know about the WWO |
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ROYAL FLUSH?
I don't know more about Poker than I know about Squash, but when you
have a superb display of Royal Figures, including HRH Infanta
Pilar de Borbon, sister of the King of Spain, HM Juan Carlos,
surrounded by Juan Antonio Samaranch Jnr, son of the IOC
Honorary President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, and our own HRH
Prince Imran, President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia and
Patron of the World Squash Federation (WSF), plus The Boss right
behing, surely, it's bound to win a few games....
Oh, I nearly forgot King Khan and Kai Holm, President
of the Danish National Olympic Committee.
Sorry guys, I win, you soooooooo lose.... |
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THANKS HOWARD...
This event scared me to death I must say, because having the
responsibility of an World Event as a reporter in a second
language/photographer is bad enough, but when you add webmastering
on top, you've find yourself with a very scared fat frog....
 But
thank God, THANK GOD for Howard Harding.
You may see Howard's name here and there on SquashSite, but unless
you are press related, you may not realise the stunning job that
that man does for us, press, and for squash in general.
Not only he's running the most extensive, comprehensive and
user-friendly database on players stats with his SquashInfo
site, he serves all the majors governing bodies with news all over
the world, from the biggest event to the smallest, offers us press
all the Head to Heads we can think of, who beat so and so in the
first round of the quals in Gronlwoland in 1532, arranges stories
for the All Mighty Written Press, facilitates contacts between
players and journalists, etc, etc. And in a Press Room? Invaluable.
Basically, the difference between order, easy work, and complete
chaos really!
 But
on this event, he went a step further, by getting me written quotes
from the players, which basically allowed me to work on the site
while he was typing. Not to mention feeding us with all the correct
names, stories, protocol, etc.
In other words, couldn't have done it without him here. As pure and
simple as that. Thanks to the organisation for having flown him
here. That was a great move. |
....AND IGNACIO!
 As
you must have noticed, I do like photos. I remember when I arrived
on the scene, the site I was working for barely had one or two
photos at the top for the page, and that was it.
I do believe that photos speaks better and louder than all the words
in the world. And most of the time, they don't need translations.
That's why I always try and get as many photographers involved as
possible on our pages. And on this one, we had Fritz, Jos, and the
official photographer from the event, Ignacio Casares who
provided us with stunning photos, fast, and with a great smile.
He was a joy to work with, and he definitely help this event shine
around the world.... |
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Snap Photo of the
tournament... ...When Nicol's parents meet with Shelley's
parents the day after... |
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MANCHESTER
IN MADRID...
No, you are not dreaming. These are the members of that stunning
team that has been giving you so many great events in Manchester
(left Yawar Abbas and Jim Quigley), plus our Golden Entrepreneur
Paul Walters (do you really need me to list what events he gave
you???).
Why are they there? Because Manchester will be hosting the Worlds
Men and Women 2008, that's why!
But if they had a few meetings during the days, I'm sure they had
the time for a bit of sightseeing too, especially as Yawar came with
his family to relax a bit before the event.... |
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Madrid
EN BREF - Issue
#6 |
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KING KHAN VISITS
THE PALACE
Incredible that years later, still emanates from Jahangir - now as
you all well know President of the WSF - that same magical aura he
had a few years ago (we are the same age, so, not THAT many years
ago, cheers). Wherever he passes, heads turn, literally.
And we had a string of EIP, Extremely Important People, including
His Royal Highness Prince Imran, President of the Olympic
Council of Malaysia and Patron of the World Squash Federation (WSF),
who must have been so disappointed from Nicol's unexpected defeat
against Shelley, but still enjoyed his stay in France for the Wolrd
Cup, along with Susie Simcock, Emeritus President of the WSF,
from New Zealand, who if she was very sad about my countrymen
beating the All Blacks in the quarters of that same Rugby World Cup,
was delighted about Shelley's victory.
Somebody's poison...
 But
as far as Spain was concerned, we were honoured with Alberto
Ruiz-Gallardon, Mayor of Madrid, along with Manuel Cobo,
Deputy Mayor of Madrid, Mrs Mercedes Coghen, CEO of Madrid
16, who stayed for the whole evening and watched all the matches
despite the biting cold, along with Rogelio Chantada,
President of the Spanish Squash Federation.
It was such an honour for the event to receive the prestigious visit
of Madrid's Mayor, one of Spain most respected "Homme Politique", a
man of great stature, both in and out of the country.
It was good omen for this event, and to "crown it all", we had not
only The Boss ("Please don't call me the Boss!!"), Queen
Nicol, yes, still here and being the great pro we all know she
is, but also the food, a lovely buffet just before play was lovely
too, thank you very much!
I love Spain!
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"This is a unique location in the City of Madrid because it is
surrounded by the Royal Palace and the Royal Theatre, as well as
amazing views over the Sabatini Gardens, the "Campo del Moro"
Gardens, the Manzanares River and the Casa de Campo Park"
"The fact that Madrid is hosting this event proves that all Spanish
institutions support every sport event that is held in our city.
Especially, I want to thank the backing of HRH Queen Sofia of Spain,
who is the President of the Honour Committee of the tournament."
"The success of this important championship, as well as the other
sport events that have been held recently in our city - including
the Tennis Master Series and the European Basketball Championships -
represent the best possible promotion for the Madrid 16 Olympic
bid."
"Madrid has a well-proven experience in the organisation of sport
competitions and it projects the image of a city committed to
sport".
Mayor of Madrid |
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Best Lines :
During the powercut:
"I could have done with that!"
Jenny Duncalf
"You wait until match ball to take the worse decision of the
match!"
Vanessa Atkinson
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MEET CARMEN...
There are people you never see, you never hear about in the papers,
you know the ones, the people that actually run like lunatics, and
organise everything, and make sure that everybody and everything is
ready for action and firing at will.
 Carmen
Abad, the event Coordinator, is one of those discreet people,
that you hear the name only when something goes wrong. “This is not
working, call Carmen” is the motto around here really…
I had a get into one to force her to actually accept to have a
little piece about her. “I’m not important”, she smiles discreetly.
“I’m just in the background”…
Yes, but she has been really amazing in this event, making sure that
the set of the court would be done in accordance with the Council
(we are so close to the Palace!), like the trucks could only
download at night, or the security issues to have wireless so close
to the Palace for the privacy of all the Royal Family, or the
recruiting of the security and cleaning teams, and of course of the
volunteers…
All that, and looking after her two daughters, 15 and 9. A rather
busy lady…
Carmen works free-lance, but guess what, the Madrid 2016 Committee
has just appointed her their event coordinator.
Clever people… |
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Madrid
EN BREF - Issue
#5 |
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NO PHYSIO, THANKS...
 I
must say this is the first time I see this... thingy, not sure how
to call it really. It's a roll, probably about 50cm long, and around
10cm wide, and it's supple, made in polyester surely.
The question is... What the heck is it for?
It seems that the massage therapists all over the world tour might
worry, as it would appear that the girls now use this little toy to
actually relax their muscle to get rid of acid lactic and tiredness.
So, some use it after their matches, but I've seen others, like
Natalie Grainger, that actually use it before. And as Natalie won
her match yesterday dropping but two points, it looks like it's
working fine, thank you.
But sorry, give me a nice physio with strong and oily hands any day.
Guess that's just me....
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BLAST....
It should have been such a happy occasion for the David's family,
her parents having flown from Malaysia, her sister and her
boy-friend from England.
But Fate and Shelley had other plans for Nicol this week. And maybe
it's a good moment to remind her what Rachael said after her match,
"This is the first of a series of three big events (including Qatar Classic
and Hong Kong Open) coming up one after the other - I think it would
be really difficult for anyone to win all three. In fact, if you
went out early here, it might give you an advantage in the next!"
So there you go. Nicol just read SquashSite, and decided to take
Rachael's hint...
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Madrid
EN BREF - Issue
#4 |
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MADRID 16... MAYBE?
 No,
I'm not trying to learn to read, you silly, surely you've heard of
the Spanish Capital bid to host the 2016 Olympics. This
country is no stranger to such honour as if I remember well, the
City of Barcelona is now officially known as the Games of the
XXV Olympiad.
But Madrid proudly wishes to reiterate the task and challenge to
welcome another Olympics. And boy o boy, they are working hard on
their infrastructure, on their communication, marketing and all
matters necessary to try and show to the world and the Olympic
Committee that Madrid would be the Perfect Choice for the 2016
Games. Hence the name of the team that works on the project,
Madrid 16.
Well, judging by what we all see here, beauty, heart, organisation
and passion runs freely in the Madrid blood, and I'm sure that
Mercedes Coghen, Madrid 16 CEO, must have been very proud of the
way the Spanish Federation and all the people from around the
world who are working extremely hard to make this event a blasting
success. |
BRITISH FANS...
 Squash
is like a virus, isn't it? Once you catch it, it's bleeping hard to
get rid of it. And it's not Arthur, our famous helper from
Manchester that will contradict me, as he came to enjoy the superb
show those girls offer us.
Or another gentleman that I have seen in so many tournaments, that I
just went up to him and had a word. He is Welsh, well, it's like
French people, I guess, you need them around (Hello Roy Gingell, our
Welsh World Ref, that we love and miss here)...
 Andrew
Bobbit started playing squash at the age of 30, and immediately
loved it. Ever since, he's been playing "very badly" twice a week.
"I just love that game, and I try and follow at least two events a
year. Madrid was so simple to get to, 1h30 from Bristol, direct
flight, and I didn't feel like working this week!"
I cannot help smiling when I see people who, like me, just caught
the Squash Virus. Beware people, for what I see all over the world,
IT'S SPREADING... |
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Photo of the day :
Yes, took me a while too... It's Aisling and Casey...
Question is... What the heck are they doing....? |
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Madrid
EN BREF - Issue
#3 |
 TEAM
TO HELP...
There are a lot of people around the place, people that you never
see on the photo. Like Rosa and Julio ("like Iglesias", he
adds when I ask his name, bless him), who are working flat out to
keep up the official website, squash.sportec.com, enter the results
nearly as fast as I am (....), and print us lovely draws and
schedules on demand.
 But
all of us, them, and us in the Press Room, wouldn't be anything with
the discrete and efficient Pablo, who keeps his life checking
that matches have finished, runs upstairs to get the scoresheets
still hot from the refs, flies to the photocopy machine, and slides
around the spectators to bring us back those so precious little
sheets.
Squash, contrarily to common belief, is a team work... |
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Best Line of the day :
"Only an Irish person who do a shot like that!!!!!!"
after a nth tin... |
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CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THAT...
 There
are a few players I do not know the name of. It happens. Because I
just do not see them play enough. For example, a few years back, I
couldn't tell French players Camille Serme, Soraya Renaï and Celia
Allamargot one from the other.
Well, today, I did it again, big time.
I see Tricia Chuah looking at Elise Ng's match after
her unexpected defeat against Suzie Pierrefont. "I'm sorry about
your loss", I start.
She looks at me, first with incredulity, then with a huge smile on
her face. "Hum, Fram, I'm not Tricia, I'm Sharon, Sharon Wee,
I'm playing tomorrow."
How do you say "I want to crawl in a little hole and never get out
of it until the end of the tournament" in Malaysian????? |
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Madrid
EN BREF - Issue
#2 |
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MADRID BY NIGHT
After a long day of ups and downs, not everything is easy when you
start a tournament, especially when there are only two courts in the
club, very little seating/viewing space. But with a bit of
organisation, everything gets sorted, as ever...
There was a rather funny moment, when I tried and got to the loo.
Sounds simple enough, but the ladies changing room is so huge I
couldn't find them.
 So
I asked the lady as the entrance in charge of the all area where I
could find the "toilets". "Habla solo espanol", she says.
"Toilettes?"..."Loos?"... "Toilettas" ??? Nothing did. Until I
actually mime the sitting down on the throne. "Aha!"
What language barrier... ?
Still, we all needed a bit of fresh air at the end of long day, as
it's extremely hot in the club in general, and stuffy in the press
room, so after dropping our computers at the lovely Prisma Hotel
(great rooms with suite, but in three different buildings, funny
when you are trying to locate a friend, I tell you), Richard
Eaton, our most famous squash journalist who just happened to
cover the Tennis Masters next door until yesterday, the lucky B.,
Howard Harding, M. Press that we all love and NEED desperately,
and your servant, went to Plazza Mayor.
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 It's
a gigantesque square, terribly Latin, which reminds me of Place
Massena in Nice, lovely pink colour, great atmosphere of relaxation,
which can turn to intense activity I was told, during weekdays (we
were Sunday night).
We had a lovely meal in one of the restaurants near by, then
strolled around the streets, looking at the stunning architecture,
and some more surprising dogs, one sitting on top of the other.
Richard suggested we do a caption competition with it, but I must
say the names that started to come up cannot be printed here
otherwise law suit couldn't avoided... |
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Madrid
EN BREF - Issue
#1 |
The Frog is (nearly) back...
 Yes,
you were expecting Complete Legend Cubbins, but hey, tough, you'll
have to do with me, as Sir Steve is actually in Saudi, as you all
well know.
So, somebody had to cover the most prestigious Women's event on the
calendar, come to Stunning Madrid, enjoy great squash, and well... I
felt a bit rusty, what, six months with no major coverage. And I
miss my players.
Not sure how well I'll do on this one, though, as I won't have a
webmaster, and nobody to check my poor English grammar, so, bear
with me if things don't look as neat and perfect as when you have
our Webmaster in Chief.
Still, I've been doing the French site for donkeys years now, and
Steve has set up all the pages for me to fill, so, I should be ok in
the end. But don't expect as much stuff I normally do, writing in a
second language is bad enough, but webmastering on top and taking
pics... How do you say juggling in English????
But hey, as Steve always says when I panic (as in at the start of
each tournament) "Don't worry, you'll be fine"... Hope you're right,
mate, hope you're right....
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FIRST TIME IN MADRID
Funny to think that with all the travel I've done over the years, I
never went to the Spanish Capital. First impression? Space, Air,
Green. The avenues are large and airy, and full of tall trees, that
make you want to stroll round the city, tasting the lovely Spanish
food and sitting at the numerous cafes. Actually, it makes me think
of Marseille really. Lovely architecture, plenty of fountains and
statues all over. Lovely and welcoming I tell you.
 Another
funny thing, but really funny, when you go and cross a road as a
pedestrian, you hear like birds singing fast. I must say I was
pretty surprised the first time, and actually looked around to find
out where those funny sounds were coming from.
Well, it's to underline the green walk sign, actually. But beware,
when the birds start to slow down, time for you to move faster, as
the red light is coming up !
As for the weather, sorry guys in all those countries where
it's damp, cold and windy. Here, everybody is still in summer
clothes, although a little jacket is necessary in the evening.
Awwwwwhhhhh. |
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