Doha En
Bref, Issue #5
Everything you never knew you needed to know
about the Qatar Classic
SO WELCOME IN QATAR…
Today,
as I had – miracles of miracles, 20m of breathing space before
the first match, I stepped outside a for second. The temperature
was about perfect, 23, 24°C, just two security guards, happily
chatting. A family passing by. Laughter in the background.
Complete Serenity.
As so many things happen in my life at the moment, new
challenges, new decisions, new crossroads, coming to Doha was
the best thing I could have done. So far away from politics,
nastiness, ingratitude and egos, here comes Qatar Welcome.
Nothing is flashy here. They don’t need to prove anything in
Qatar, they know who they are….They’ve been here since forever,
they have
great History but their specificity I feel comes from the
ability to accept everybody’s differences with grace and
open-mindedness.
Here, you can wear what you wish, you mix with different
cultures, languages, customs and way of life. As long as you
respect the others, you’ll be cared for like nowhere else in the
World.
As
one of the refs told me “It’s always so nice to come here, we
are valued. They are valuing us.” Exactly. And that is so
important, especially when people like the refs, and us at
SquashSite, are still doing it for the passion of the sport, and
no remuneration…
So many people work day in day out to make our life, the players
life, all officials involved, wonderful. Great hotel, great
food, great transportation, fantastic venue and courts, prime
seats provided, a press room where hot and cold drinks,
Fauchon’s canapés, fruits and else are provided daily, results,
score sheets, schedules…
Honestly, it’s a dream to work in such conditions.
So
many people to thank, like Nabeel Ali Bin Ali Al-Maslamani,
Qatar Federation President and main event sponsor, may the Gods
of Squash bless him, Tournament Director, Hisham Algosaibi,
both Secretary General and Qatar Classic Tournament Director,
have made it possible for the event to be held, and with the
help of Alaaeldeen Allouba (Tournament Referee andTechnical
Expert), Gamal Rasmi (Technical Secretary),
and Mohammed Ali in charge of the transport, this event is yet again a stunning success.
On
a personal note, I would like to personally thank Hisham and his
wife Debbie for their welcome, kindness, trust and
support - such a treat to see them and their lovely kids Loulou,
Sarah and young Ibrahim, the most well behaved
kids you’ll ever come across - and of course Alaaeldeen, who has
been a friend for a long time now, for helping in getting both
Steve and I here in Qatar.
From all of us in SquashSite, thank you.
Doha En
Bref, Issue #4
Everything you never knew you needed to know
about the Qatar Classic
MINI CHATS WITH ...
PETER IS BACK…
The English
player didn’t have a good time in Odense for the World Team
event. He lost some pretty crucial matches, and that must have
been tough mentally, raising probably questions he needed to
find answers to.
"Yes, I was in Odense, but I was there!", he laughs.
"Well, if Hong Kong was alright, losing against Daryl was not a
bad moment, Odense was not a good time for me, but you’ve got to
try and learn from those moments. The good thing about bad times
like that, is that you realise who are your friends, the people
you can count on, who dust you off, and help you get started
again.
"And now, I’m feeling really well, I had a good week last week,
I’m having a good week here now…"
Nice to have you back with us Peter…
Mrs
Karim Darwish…
AKA Engy Kheirallah
I thought that Engy was impressive with calm and focus yesterday
in her match against Isabelle. She has changed, she moves
better, and she appears more, I don’t know, happy….
"I’ve been working a lot on my movement, I always thought I
moved well enough, but it was like it would never come out
during important matches, I would move very well while at home,
training, but on court, I would get so nervous it would prevent
me from moving well."
So,
what did you do to improve it?
"When I got married I moved from Alexandria to Cairo, and there
were so many changes I needed to get used to. I trained more
first of all, but the driving in Cairo, the new life, the new
responsibility, and every time I was stepping on court, I wanted
to prove that I was better than my ranking, so many thoughts in
my head...
"Now, things have settled, in my life, in my head. I’m calmer,
more levelled, less stressed, my life is smoother. I only get on
court with the will to do my best, not to win to get ranking
points, or not to lose ranking points. I just try and enjoy my
squash, and do my best, that’s the most important. And then,
I’ll see what happens…"
Well, obviously, she is on the right tracks…
NO REFS PLEASE…
If you don’t know
Robert Edwards, the Voice of Squash, you do
not realise how dry his sense of humour is. And nothing that
Robert says should be taken as gospel.
One early morning, it was brought to our attention that one of the refs was not at the
pool, as
he normally was.
After enquiry, the poor man, too kind and trying not to upset
anyone, had actually stayed away as during a meal a few hours
previously, Robert had joked about the fact that he liked to
swim between 9 and 10 every morning, and would be grateful not
to see any refs at the pool between those times.
“I’m not sure if he really meant it, so…”
Hearing about it, Robert collapsed laughing, and has asked me to
convey to the Refs that none of them will be allowed in the
breakfast room between 9h30 and 10h30, the time where he likes
to have his breakfast…
As if the life of Refs was not tough enough…..
Doha En
Bref, Issue #3
Everything you never knew you needed to know
about the Qatar Classic
MINI
CHATS WITH…LJ ANJEMA…
How
do you feel at the moment?
Great. I’m very happy to be here, I feel that I’m very fortunate
to go on tournaments all over the world. Recently, I’ve played a
lot of league matches, did a fair amount of travelling, but I
feel that’s the best way to be prepared for the major
tournaments. At the moment, I feel up for competing and winning…
When you go back home, you do…?
When I go home between tournaments, I just rest and do nothing!
I find it works for me, instead of going for excessive training,
but I make sure that I’m keeping a very healthy lifestyle.
Did
I hear correctly?
Healthy lifestyle??
Well, with what we are putting our bodies through, the matches,
the late nights, early morning, the travelling, the flights –
where it’s so easy to catch up things – you’ve got to make sure
your immune system is rested and strong.
I remember a time where after a loss, I thought, oh well, I’m in
HK, might as well enjoy it, and go for a heavy night just before
flying back the next day, which is the silliest thing you could
do. Now, I wouldn’t dream about doing something like that, it’s
quite the opposite really.
I guess I had to try it to get the experience to know that I
shouldn’t do it…
IS IT CATCHING OR WHAT???
Babies,
babies, babies…. After Shelley K a few months back, we
have also Natalie Grinham, Pam Nimmo, and now
Vicky Botwright.
As I had the lucky dad Stewart Boswell under my keyboard,
you know me, I just couldn’t resist…
Are you happy, Stewart?
It’s still early days, it’s only three months and I don’t want
to get too excited yet, but I’m basically ecstatic!
Was it planned?
We were thinking about it, yes, for a little while…
Any particular request?
No, I don’t care what comes!
Where do you intend to live?
We are still based in Manchester, we’ll stay there for the time
being, and it would be nice maybe to go back to Australia.
Vicky is open to the idea, but she always lived in Manchester,
so that would be a big move for her, whereas I’m a bit of a
nomad, and where I live is not the most important of things for
me.
What do you wish for your baby above all?
The
only thing I wish for my baby is that he/she’ll live a more
normal life that his/her parents, although with two parents
living, breathing squash, he/she may be inclined to embrace a
sport career.
But maybe another sport?
What’s important, is that he/she does whatever will really suit
him/her…
DIGGING
DEEP FOR AUSTRALIA
While
in Odense, I saw four games of that famous match between
Cameron Pilley and Alister Walker in the
Australia/England last match (3rd place), on the last day, where
Cameron played the gutsiest match of his life against a fresher
Ali, who came on the late to replace the injured Nick Matthew,
as England rested Adrian Grant.
Although it was not the decisive match, that extremely long and
intense five-setter where both players offered their guts to
their country, weighted a heavy weight in the battle that
eventually gave the bronze medal to Australia.
I’ve seen a few team competitions now, and the intensity of the
personal implication is enormous, and in a few cases, some
players actually become better individual players because they
dug in for their countries…
Cameron
is one of them…
“I feel that, whatever event I play, I represent Australia, and
I think that most of the Australians probably feel the same.
Wearing the shirt for Australia matters to me to a point it’s
ridiculous. But when you get on court, you’ve got to forget
about that, and just play it like any other match. Still, it’s
always in the back of your mind.
That famous match…
“In the semis, I had played Ramy late the night before, finished
at 9. We played a very intense game, where I took all my
chances. Needless to say I was not at my 100% the next morning
at 10am against Alister, but playing with the Australian shirt
on your back, against England, knowing that I HAD to win to keep
my country in contention for a bronze medal, that gives you
wings.
I was absolutely knackered and emptied for two weeks after that
though! But it was worth it…”
As David Palmer told me after the match, “I don’t think Cameron
ever dug as deep as he did for the match." Yes, Cameron gave all
that he didn’t realise he had to give. And I truly feel it’s
those kind of circumstances that can be a turning point in a
career…
Doha En
Bref, Issue #2
Everything you never knew you needed to know
about the Qatar Classic
TOO OLD,
MOI????
I've
never hidden the fact I appreciate Mr Omar Abdel Aziz. He
is such a character, both on and off court, and can be, at
times, great fun to be with. Well, so I thought…
Until yesterday, where I was struggling to hear the score of a
match as he was chatchatchatchat with his mates in the stands.
“Oh quiet” I told him.
“Guys, we’ve got to make less noise, because you know, she is
too old now, her hearing is not that good anymore. Actually,” he
went on, “I think we should make a collection for her, and buy
her a hearing aid, what do you think?”
Too old, MOI????? “You are dead” I told him. He laughed his head
off…
When I think that some silly ignorants still think I’m to be
feared! My players wipe the floor with me, tell me off, take the
mickey out of me, day in, day out… Ma vie est un enfer…
SILENCE!!!
One of the great features of Qatar organisation is to have given
us a sound feedback into the Press Room, which informs us of
some of the main court happenings.
But as Steve and I were chatting happily in the Press Room –
only the two of us in the room – the noise level in the court
area must have gone up, and suddenly, we heard Ayaz Khan, one of
the International Referees present here in Doha, intimate a loud
“QUIET PLEASE”!!!
It was slightly surreal, I must say, and it did startle us, but
it definitely made us laugh for a good five minutes… We are so
easy to please…
TO HIT
OR NOT TO HIT…
Nope, we're not talking about behaviour on court, but of traffic
statistics for a website. Too often still, people ask us, “how
many hits do you get?”
You have to realise that there are different ways of measuring
those stats, and that the “hits” figures that some webmasters
still use to impress their clients – usually when their results
are extremely poor and they get desperate to inflate them –
don’t mean squat.
Let's explain.
A Hit is a request on the server, and since
images and other media on web pages are stored separately from
the page itself, visiting one page will count as several "Hits"
- it could be one (no images), dozens, or hundreds, depending on
the page involved.
So you can see it's a pretty silly statistic, as it gives you no
real idea of what visits to your site are like. Nobody seriously
trying to give website statistics uses it, and trusted sources
like Google Analytics simply ignore it.
What you should look at are :
Visitors: (Unique Visitor) : 1 person comes on
your site = 1 visitor Visits: That same person comes back 5 times = 5
visits Pages: One visitor comes 5 times, and looks at
say, 6 different pages each time = 30 pages
Is that a bit clearer?
So for instance, we average between per month between 125,000 to
200,000 visitors, 400,000 visits, and two million pages.
But if we really wanted to make it look impressive, we'd talk in
term of hits, and for example during a major tournament like the
World Open or the Qatar Classic, that would be around 35 million.
Still, here at SquashSite, we don’t have to go out of our way to
make our figures impressive. They are… Thanks to you all,
SquashSite readers all over the world.
Doha En
Bref, Issue #1
Everything you never knew you needed to know
about the Qatar Classic
As
a few of you may remember, SquashSite didn’t come to this event
last year, as it was the moment we actually closed. And please
believe me when I say that was a tough moment for us…
I never made any secret that Qatar is one of my favourite
events. The organisation is stunning, everything runs smoothly,
from the first day of the qualifiers – with transport already in
place for us all – to the finals’ day. The hotel is great, the
weather perfect, but that is accessory really, isn’t it? What
matters, is the people…
Year after year, you come to know, appreciate and often care a
great deal about all those people we work alongside. From the
top guys to the runner, Qatari people are just so welcoming it
makes you smile just thinking about coming here. When you step
into that stunning centre, you know you are going to be looked
after, and you are going to be given all the tools to work in
perfect conditions.
The key word here is “laid back”. No anger, no stress, no
trouble. All is smooth. And I’m ever so grateful that, this
year, we are here again. We’ll do our best to make you live the
event “live”, as ever.
OH NO…
The
first thing that Simon Rosner said me this morning as he entered
the press room alongside Jens Schoor was, “take a picture of
both of us, as I’m pretty sure we’ll be playing against each
other.”
And of course, it didn’t miss. Lovely, coming all that way to
play your compatriot! Mind you, the same works for Tom Richards
and Joe Lee, who are not only English – hey, not their fault,
don’t knock them for it – but both training with Peter Genever
in Dolphin Square, London!
Add to that, we have two Egyptians playing each other, both
named Omar Abdel ... Aziz v Meguid. What are the chances of
that!
I’m actually stunned that Mathieu Castagnet is not playing
Renan…
Doha En
Bref, Issue #5
So,
what did you do to improve it?
If you don’t know
Robert Edwards, the Voice of Squash, you do
not realise how dry his sense of humour is. And nothing that
Robert says should be taken as gospel. 
How
do you feel at the moment?
Did
I hear correctly? 
Babies,
babies, babies…. After Shelley K a few months back, we
have also Natalie Grinham, Pam Nimmo, and now
Vicky Botwright. 
The
only thing I wish for my baby is that he/she’ll live a more
normal life that his/her parents, although with two parents
living, breathing squash, he/she may be inclined to embrace a
sport career. 
Cameron
is one of them…
