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Audi
Hungarian Masters
20-22 June, 2008 Szeged |
FINALS
Colin White reports
Yesterday saw the Finals of the 8th Hungarian Masters. All the
age groups were hotly contested, with England dominating the
older Men's age groups and the home club providing a few
winners.
The English winners included Martin Pearse, Mark Cowley, James
Ockwell and Munich resident David Adams.
The home town had a winner in the Women's +35 section, as both
Kata Tackacs and Gaborne Horvath both coming from Szeged, with
Horvath coming through a tough battle to claim the crown.
The Men's +35 Final saw a match between the top seed Zsolt
Kovacs and Colin White from Budapest via Belfast. Zsolt
and White have played many matches, as they both play at the
same club, but this one was played out in front of a good crowd
and Kovacs wanted to complete his hat-trick of titles in this
event.
Kovacs won the first set with good play on a very hot and fast
court, with White making too many mistakes. The match turned in
the second on a series of refereeing decisions. Up to this final
the event had used, very successfully, the club juniors, for
this match they used one of the other older players. The
problem came up because at the start of the match he give some
"soft" strokes, then suddenly he changed and nearly stopped
giving strokes.
At 1-0 and 8-5 for Kovacs, he only got a let on what he felt was
a stroke, which proved costly with White coming back to win the
set 10-8. A change of tactics from White and a loss of
concentration from Kovacs enabled White to win the third 9-0. In
the fourth Kovacs seemed to spend more time arguing with the
referee than he did playing and he stopped even running when 5-1
down, which was not a good advert for the many club juniors who
attended the final.
Although not a good way to finish, the event can still be called
a huge success and many thanks to the organisers, club members,
staff, the refereeing kids and the sponsors. One last special
note to the German playing/supporting/swimming/sunbathing/drinking
team from Munich, who managed to beat their beer record. Lets
hope they are back next year to try and better it and maybe even
bring a few more players!
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Draws & Results
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Day TWO:
Colin White reports
Saturday started with matches on court from 10 am and for some,
didn't finish until 7 am the next morning! In between these
times players and spectators were treated to a wonderful day's
entertainment. We had some hard but friendly matches on the
court, but sorry it's hard to give too much information on these
matches when I spent a lot of time beside the swimming pool
enjoying the weather ...
In many of the age groups the tournament has gone to seeding,
with England dominating the Men's Finals. Nick Peel and
James Ockwell will contest the +45 section, with fellow
countrymen Mark Cowley and Stuart Hardy in the +50
and Martin Pearse playing Keith Flanigan in the
+60 final.
The home club will provide the winner of the Women's +35 in the
form of either Kata Takacs or Gaborne Horvath. The
Men's +35 Final will be between top seed Zsolt Kovacs,
who beat event organiser Miklos Papai and Irishman Colin
White, who had to work very hard to win his semi-final 3-2
against Levente Nandori.
The thing about this tournament is that the real entertainment
starts when the matches are finished. Last night at the party we
were treated to a magician, mime artists, some very talented
dancers, Russia beating Holland at football, which caused the
Russians present to jump into the swimming pool to celebrate.
Also a special mention for the German group of "players", who
have travelled from Munich with eight people, but only two
playing. They have been working very hard to beat their personal
record from last year of 250 beers, and you won't be surprised
to know that they were here, keeping the party going until 7 am
this morning.
As I said before, this was my first trip to this event, but it
won't be the last and if you ever get the chance try to come,
because there is something for everybody, especially a good time
and some new friends.
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Day ONE:
Colin
White reports
The 8th Hungarian Masters event started yesterday in Szeged, a town
situated around 200 km south of the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
The tournament has attracted over 80 players in various age groups
from many different countries, including England, Ireland,
Germany, Sweden, Holland and even Turkey.
This Masters event continues to grow from strength to strength and a
lot is down to the members in the club, its owners and the two men
who seem to be behind everything to do with squash in Szeged,
Miklos Papai and Zoltan Sebok. These two guys try to
think of everything to make their guests enjoy the event, from
having club juniors to referee all matches to a lucky daily winner
getting a private flight around the town and countryside.
Yesterday morning at 10.00 am the matches started on the 6 courts of
the club. This is my first Masters event and the thing you notice
straight away is how friendly everyone is and how much they enjoy to
play squash.
The other great thing about this event is the swimming
pool and outdoor facilities that the club has, so when your not
running after that little black ball, you can relax in the swimming
pool and enjoy the beautiful weather. Even some people didn't need
the sunshine to enjoy the pool, as the Turkish Woman's +35 Player,
Ayten Kececi found out. When her country came back so
dramatically to beat Croatia in Euro 2008 to reach the semi-final
last night, she found herself having a quick swim, but to be
truthful it wasn't totally her own choice.
ESF Vice-President, Martin Wren, who is here on behalf of the
board to discuss and look into the setting up of a Masters Circuit
in Europe. Martin said that the board have been discussing this
matter for the past 12 months, so they have chosen this event to
come and get the viewpoint of some players and possible organisers.
So if your country or club are interested in being part of this
project, please contact Martin through the ESF office.
On the playing side, event organiser, club owner, part time coach,
father of four, Miklos Papai, found some time to upset the
seeding and beat his higher ranked opponent Csaba Liptak, to
finish top of his group and set up a possible afternoon semi-final
against some Belfast man playing in his first masters event ...
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