|
|
12-Sep, FINAL:
[1] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [2] Karim Darwish (Egy)
12/10, 2/0 rtd |
LJ's Egyptian Tale
Rotary Heliopolis Champion 2005
Shabana with his mum
|
Shabana inherits
Heliopolis title
Egyptian fans were looking forward to seeing a final between their top two
players, Amr Shabana and Karim Darwish, but the spectacle was cut short by
an injury to Darwish at the start of the second game, Shabana having won
the first on a tie-break.
So Shabana takes the Rotary Heliopolis title, but not in the way he,
Darwish or the crowd would have wanted.
|
The final, point by point ...
Mahmoud Assem reports from Cairo
 The
match was due to begin at 8:00 Cairo time, and the atmosphere couldn’t
have been better; the audience are filling the stadium, the cameras are
preparing to go live on public television as well as cable, the players
are ready. It was just an amazing atmosphere.
The match finally begins ... I talked to both players before the match,
they both had the same attitude, tense and a bit nervous yet trying to
react calm. They both were focused, each hoping to win the tournament.
Seven lets in one early rally, 4-2 to Karim. At this point both players
are playing amazing squash. Neither of them is able to get his way in
winning the rallies.
6-5 to Shabana as he somehow gets the chance to make his shots tighter and
harder, making life more difficult on Darwish.
 At
8-7 to Shabana, both players seem to have started to slow down a little,
tiring. Darwish was suffering more and dropped the next two crucial
points.
With two tight balls from Darwish that Shabana fails to get, the score
turns to 9-10. And after it Shabana tries to volley the serve into the
nick but fails, it's 10-10. He tried again on the next ball and did it
bringing the score to his favour, 11-10 game ball.
Then the incident that turned the match. It seemed to be a small injury at
the time; Shabana was going for a ball to ask for a let, but he steps on
Darwish’s foot.
Darwish asks for the doctor and takes a 3 minute break. Now it looks more
serious, as is appears that Darwish may not be capable of completing the
match.
Darwish returns to the court, warms up for a minute, and then we started
again. In less than 15 seconds the game ended, Darwish unable to make a
run. 12-10 to Shabana.
Into the second game now, Shabana is forcing Karim to run, but after just
two points, Karim retires due to his injury.
Everyone in the stadium is very disappointed because we were expecting a
thrilling match, as it was in the first game. But everyone is wishing
Karim better luck next time and congratulating Amr for his success.
Mahmoud Assem |
LJ's
Egyptian Tale
From qualifying to
the semi-finals ... it was a good week for LJ in Cairo ...
 What
can I say about the tournament?
I had a really good week, the qualifying matches allowed me to get
comfortable with the court and environment so that when the first
round started, I was used to the conditions and well into the
tournament.
Overall I think I played pretty solid and forced some mistakes
from my opponents.
Karim started playing really well after I won the first game and
won the next three games by playing some really good shots and
trickle boasts.
After a nightmare flight I just arrived in Amsterdam and tomorrow
morning I'm already off the states for the St Louis Open and the
Berkshire Open. Can't wait for some more airplane food.
Laurens Jan Anjema
|
11-Sep, Semi-Finals:
[1] Amr Shabana bt [4] Olli Tuominen
11/3, 11/7, 14/12
[2] Karim Darwish bt [Q] LJ Anjema (Ned)
8/11, 11/5, 11/4, 11/5 |
Karim Darwish
Tuominen v Kemp
Hi Fram,
Communication is a little tricky here in Cairo, but the squash is
pretty good.
LJ played very disciplined stuff yesterday, Graham seemed a little
anxious to go short and clipped the tin on a few too many
occasions.
I didn't get to see the other matches but LJ has Abbas today, as
he won comfortably. I played quite well against Bradley, it was
tough playing each other after travelling and staying together but
we both got on with it.
The first game was quite crucial, was nip and tuck and sneaked it
13-11. It made a big difference as I won the next 2 a little more
comfortably, fortunately.
I have got Darwish tonight, I'm looking forward to it.
Peter Barker
 |
|
All-Egyptian Final in Cairo
The crowds at the Cairo National Stadium got the final they wanted and
expected as Amr Shabana and Karim Darwish lived up to their
seedings.
Mahmoud Assem reports from Heliopolis ...
The first semi-final between Amr Shabana and Olli Tuominen
was enjoyable to watch. The first two games went smoothly to Shabana, but
in the third Olli gave him a hard time, making the rallies longer and
causing Shabana to slow down and tire.
But the number one seed recovered to finish of the Finnish number one,
11/3, 11/7, 14/12 in 39 minutes.
Laurens Jan Anjema seemed to be continuing his tournament upsets as
he took the first game against Karim Darwish. Anjema played attacking
squash as Darwish made some crucial errors.
Anjema took the first five points with minimal effort, and held off
Darwish's attempted recovery to take the first game.
The second game was the complete opposite, with Darwish going 6/1 up and
breaking up Laurens’s game. to win it 11/5.
The third and the fourth games were copy of the second one, Karim played
with his same strategy as he finally found the way to play against the
well-built Dutchman. The match ended in 44 minutes 8/11, 11/5, 11/4, 11/5. |
10-Sep,
Quarter-Finals:
[1] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [8] Wael El Hindi (Egy)
11/9, 5/11, 11/3, 11/8
[4] Olli Tuominen (Fin) bt [Q] Jonathan Kemp (Eng)
11/8, 6/11, 3/11, 11/3, 11/4
[Q] LJ Anjema (Ned) bt [6] Mohammed Abbas (Egy)
11/8, 11/8, 1/11, 11/9
[2] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt Peter Barker (Eng)
11/8, 11/3, 11/2 |
Shabana Battles into
Rotary Semis
Mahmoud Assem reports from Heliopolis ...
 Egypt's
top seeds Amr Shabana and Karim Darwish moved into the
semi-finals, in contrasting styles.
The match between Shabana and Wael El Hindi was a contentious affair, with
both players clashing on court and arguing between themselves and the
referee - leading to them receiving four conduct strokes each! Eventually
they calmed down and started to play squash peacefully, with Shabana
finally winning 3/1.
Shabana will play Finland's Olli Tuominen in the semi-finals, whose
fitness carried through his match with Jonathan Kemp where both players
were willing to play attacking squash.
Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema continued his run of upsets,
disappointing the home crowds with a four-game victory over Mohammed
Abbas.
It was clear from the beginning that Abbas was tense, and that is why, two
games in a row, the players went point-for-point until 8-8, but then Abbas
just lost focus. But in the third game Abbas started aggressively and
Anjema seemed as if his level was dropping. For the fourth we were back as
the first two games, point-for-point until 9-9 then Anjema finished it
off.
Anjema faces second seed Darwish, who eased past Peter Barker in straight
games in the final match of the day. It was rather one sided if you look
at the score, but it was competitive with some exciting rallies. |
 Rotary
Heliopolis Open
2005
Cairo, Egypt, 06-12 Sep, $41k |
Round One
Sep 08/09 |
Quarters
Sep 10 |
Semis
Sep 11 |
Final
Sep 12 |
[1] Amr
Shabana (Egy)
11/8, 11/5, 11/10(2-0)
[Q] Hisham Ashour (Egy) |
Amr Shabana
11/9, 5/11, 11/3, 11/8
Wael
El Hindi |
Amr Shabana
11/3, 11/7, 11/10(4-2)
Olli Tuominen |
Amr Shabana
11/10(2-0), 2/0 rtdKarim
Darwish |
[8] Wael
El Hindi (Egy)
11/4, 11/6, 11/7
Renan Lavigne (Fra) |
[4] Olli
Tuominen (Fin)
10/11(1-3), 11/10(4-2), 11/9, 11/10(4-2)
Ramy Ashour (Egy) |
Olli Tuominen
11/8, 6/11, 3/11, 11/3, 11/4
Jonathan Kemp |
[5] Adrian Grant (Eng)
11/5, 11/8, 11/6
[Q] Jonathan Kemp (Eng) |
[Q] Sherif
Moustafa (Egy)
11/3, 11/2, 11/5
[6] Mohammed Abbas (Egy) |
Mohammed Abbas
11/8, 11/8, 1/11, 11/9
Laurens Jan Anjema |
Laurens Jan Anjema
8/11, 11/5, 11/4, 11/5
Karim Darwish |
[Q]
Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned)
11/4, 11/9, 4/11, 11/6
[3] Graham Ryding (Can) |
Peter Barker (Eng)
11/10(3-1), 11/6, 11/3
[7] Bradley Ball (Eng) |
Peter Barker
11/9, 11/5, 11/5
Karim Darwish |
Joey
Barrington (Eng)
11/9, 11/5, 11/5
[2] Karim Darwish (Egy) |
|
|
|
|
Qualifying:
Finals, 07-Sep:
Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) bt Ahmed Hassan (Egy)
11/6, 11/4, 11/5 (33m)
Jonathan Kemp (Eng) bt Omar Mossad (Egy)
11/7, 4/11, 11/9, 11/8 (48m)
Hisham Ashour (Egy) bt Abdullah Almezayen (Kuw)
11/3, 11/7, 8/11, 11/7 (40m)
Sherif Moustafa (Egy) bt Davide Bianchetti (Ita)
7/11, 11/5, 11/8, 8/11, 11/9 (103m)
Round Two, 06-Sep:
Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) bt Luca
Mastrostefano (Ita) 11/1, 11/2, 11/4 (26m)
Ahmed Hassan (Egy) bt El Iraky Omar (Egy)
16/14, 7/11,11/6 11/9 (63m)
Jonathan Kemp (Eng) bt Duncan Walsh (Eng)
11/7,11/7, 11/4 (27m)
Omar Mossad (Egy) bt Dylan Bennett (Ned)
11/8, 11/7, 8/11, 11/3 (45m)
Abdullah Almezayen (Kuw) bt
Mohamed Ali (Egy)
3/2
Hisham Ashour (Egy) bt Badr Abdel Aziz (Swe)
11/4, 11/3, 11/2 (30m)
Sherif Moustafa (Egy) bt Omar Abdel Megid (Egy)
11/9, 11/7, 11/7
Davide Bianchetti (Ita) bt Badel Al Hussaini (Kuw)
11/5, 11/6, 11/4 (33m)
Round One, 05-Sep:
Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) bye
Luca Mastrostefano (Ita) bt John Rooney (Irl)
11/5, 2/11, 11/5, 11/3 (39m)
El Iraky Omar (Egy) bt Sam Miller (Eng)
11/3, 10/12, 11/9,13/11 (67m)
Ahmed Hassan (Egy) bt Dennis Drenjovski (Ger)
11/9,11/7, 11/8 (38m)
Jonathan Kemp (Eng) bye
Duncan Walsh (Eng) bt Wael Farag (Egy)
11/5, 11/6, 14/12 (29m)
Dylan Bennett (Ned) bt Andre Holderegger (Sui)
12/10, 7/11, 11/5, 11/4 (48m)
Omar Mossad (Egy) bt Tarek Momen (Egy)
11/7, 3/11, 11/5, 114 (41m)
Mohamed Ali (Egy) bt Amr Mansi (Egy)
6/11, 8/11, 14/12, 11/3, 11/3 (63m)
Abdullah Almezayen (Kuw) bt Ali Al-Ramezi (Kuw)
11/5, 11/6, 11/5 (33m)
Badr Abdel Aziz (Swe) bt Ahmed Nafeaa (Egy)
11/2, 11/6, 11/8 (24m)
Hisham Ashour (Egy) bye
Sherif Moustafa (Egy) bt Amr Ramzy Swelim (Egy) 9/11,
11/2, 6/11, 11/6, 11/6 (66m)
Omar Abdel Megid (Egy) bt Bradley Hindle (Aus)
11/8, 11/8, 6/11, 11/4 (38m)
Badel Al Hussaini (Kuw) bt Mohamed Elkeiy (Egy)
11/8, 11/8, 11/8 (37m)
Davide Bianchetti (Ita) bye
|
08-Sep, First Round top
half:
Kemp cruises
past
Grant in Cairo opener
The opening match of the Rotary Heliopolis Open saw an upset as qualifier
Jonathan Kemp beat fifth seed Adrian Grant in straight games
in an all-English encounter. Kemp dominated most of the match, with Grant
struggling to find his form as Kemp eased to an 11/5, 11/8, 11/6 victory.
All-Egyptian
Quarter
Top seed Amr Shabana joined Kemp in the quarter-finals as he
overcame fellow-Egyptian Hisham Ashour in three games. Some
brilliant squash from both players entertained the crowd, with Ashour
pushing Shabana to a tie-break in the third before the 2003 World Champion
won 11/8, 11/5, 12/10.
Shabana will meet another Egyptian in the quarters, Wael El Hindi
beating France's Renan Lavigne 11/4, 11/6, 11/7 in the third match.
Close Call for
Olli
The final match of day one featured Egypt's world junior champion Ramy
Ashour against fourth-seeded Olli Tuominen. The Finn was pushed
all the way, with Ashour taking the first game on a tie-break before
Tuominen hit back to take the next two games, and recovered from a deficit
in the fourth to win a nail-biting tie-break. Tuominen won 11/13, 14/12,
11/9, 14/12. |
Peter Barker
Hi Fram,
Communication is a little tricky here in Cairo, but the squash is
pretty good.
LJ played very disciplined stuff yesterday, Graham seemed a little
anxious to go short and clipped the tin on a few too many
occasions.
I didn't get to see the other matches but LJ has Abbas today, as
he won comfortably. I played quite well against Bradley, it was
tough playing each other after travelling and staying together but
we both got on with it.
The first game was quite crucial, was nip and tuck and sneaked it
13-11. It made a big difference as I won the next 2 a little more
comfortably, fortunately.
I have got Darwish tonight, I'm looking forward to it.
Peter Barker
|
Karim Darwish
Jonathan Kemp
Grant after the match
Olli Tuominen
|
LJ & Barker upset
the odds in Cairo
Karim Darwish and Mohammed
Abbas doubled the representation in the Heliopolis quarter-finals, as
the cruised to straight-games victory over Joey Barrington and Sherif
Moustafa, respectively, as qualifier 'LJ' Anjema ousted Canadian
third seed Graham Ryding in the biggest upset of the third round, and
Peter Barker got the better of seventh seed Bradley Ball in an
all-English encounter.
Mahmoud Assem
reports from Heliopolis ...
Today’s matches started at 17:00 with the first match between Mohammed
Abbas and Sherif Mostafa Kamel.
Sherif surprised everyone by beating Davide Bianchetti 3/2 in the final
round of qualification, but it seemed that Sherif hadn't fully recovered
from the marathon against Bianchetti which lasted for more than an hour
and a half. This was obvious as Abbas had no trouble at all taking on the
tired Egyptian. The match ended 11/3, 11/2, 11/5 in just 30 minutes.
 Next
was the match between Graham Ryding and Laurens Jan Anjema.
I personally expected the match to be an easy one for Ryding, but I was
proved wrong.
Anjema didn’t seem to have any trouble in the first two games, but in the
third game Anjema took things easy which allowed Ryding to win it 11/4.
But Anjema quickly took charge of the fourth and won it 11/6. Ryding was
very disappointed after the match.
The third match was an all English affair between Bradley Ball and
Peter Barker. To cut the story short, it was as if Ball didn’t even
arrive in Cairo. He lost in 30 minutes with the scores of the games 13/11,
11/6, 11/3 in 30 minutes. At first Ball was too nervous, but after the
midway of the second game, he gave up and made it easy for Barker to win.
The final match was between Karim Darwish and Joey Barrington.
The match wasn’t the best, since Darwish wasn’t playing at his peak. And
both players were a bit harsh on their let calls (physically). Games ended
11/9, 11/5, 11/5 in 33 minutes. |
08-Sep, First Round top
half:
Kemp cruises
past
Grant in Cairo opener
The opening match of the Rotary Heliopolis Open saw an upset as qualifier
Jonathan Kemp beat fifth seed Adrian Grant in straight games
in an all-English encounter. Kemp dominated most of the match, with Grant
struggling to find his form as Kemp eased to an 11/5, 11/8, 11/6 victory.
All-Egyptian
Quarter
Top seed Amr Shabana joined Kemp in the quarter-finals as he
overcame fellow-Egyptian Hisham Ashour in three games. Some
brilliant squash from both players entertained the crowd, with Ashour
pushing Shabana to a tie-break in the third before the 2003 World Champion
won 11/8, 11/5, 12/10.
Shabana will meet another Egyptian in the quarters, Wael El Hindi
beating France's Renan Lavigne 11/4, 11/6, 11/7 in the third match.
Close Call for
Olli
The final match of day one featured Egypt's world junior champion Ramy
Ashour against fourth-seeded Olli Tuominen. The Finn was pushed
all the way, with Ashour taking the first game on a tie-break before
Tuominen hit back to take the next two games, and recovered from a deficit
in the fourth to win a nail-biting tie-break. Tuominen won 11/13, 14/12,
11/9, 14/12.
Shabana and Ashour warming up |
Home Hopes High at Heliopolis
The Rotary Heliopolis Open, to be held at Cairo's National Stadium from
8-12 Sep, features world top ten local favourites Amr Shabana and
Karim Darwish as top seeds.
There are five Egyptians in the main draw, with
Wael El Hindi and
Mohammed Abbas joined by wildcard entry Rami Ashour, the
world junior champion.
|
|
