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• REPORTS 2004 • Results 2003 • Day 4: FINALS • Day 3: SEMIS • Pools Day 2 • Pools Day 1 • PARKEY • prep • |
NICOL STUNS WHITE AS
ENGLAND BEAT SCOTS
Recently Anglicised Peter Nicol led England to a 3-1 victory
over his former compatriots Scotland in Thursday's opening qualifying round
of the European Squash Championships in Nottingham.
Nicol, the world No1 playing in an England team for the first time since
transferring his allegiance from Scotland more than two years ago, but the
world number four-ranked Scottish No1 John White 9-6 9-0 9-3 to clinch the
tie for his new country, the top seeds and defending champions.
"I haven't played an important match for two months, so I've been building
up for this," said Nicol afterwards. "Against John, you've got to play well
- it didn't make any difference to me that it was against Scotland, it was
just a match I wanted to win!"
Nicol's team-mates Simon Parke, the Nottingham-based world No13, and James
Willstrop, the 19-year-old world junior champion from Yorkshire who was also
making his England debut, also secured straight games wins - over Peter
O'Hara and Stuart Crawford, respectively. England captain Mark Chaloner let
slip a 2-1 lead to go down 9-6 5-9 7-9 9-3 9-3 to Scottish champion Martin
Heath.
Later in the day, England cruised to a 4-0 win over Switzerland - with twice
British champion Lee Beachill, the England No2, making his comeback after
ankle surgery with a confident 9-1 9-2 9-3 win over Marco Eggenberger.
Scotland faced the Netherlands in their second match in Pool A, and went
down to the fourth seeds when Heath, clearly feeling the effects of his
earlier five games with Chaloner, lost in straight games to former Dutch
national champion Lucas Buit.
Scotland suffered a double Dutch defeat on day one when the women's team,
runners-up in 2002 and seeded two, slumped to a 3-0 upset by the
sixth-seeded Netherlands squad.
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