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Gaultier &
Power in Switzerland
John Williams reports |
Thu 20th
Dec:
Club Vaduz, Liechtenstein ...
The first leg for Greg Gaultier of his three-day Tour of Switzerland
included his first visit to the mountainous Principality of
Liechtenstein.
The day included a two-hour Clinic with the Players who represent
Liechtenstein at the Small-Nations Tournament of Europe each year.
Prior to Greg's Squash duties for the evening on the Court, he also
met Liechtenstein's ski 'Ace' Marco Büchel, currently ranked
No.2 in the World in the Men's Downhill Standings. The evening
concluded with Gaultier playing one game each with three members of
Vaduz's National A-League Team as well as two games with myself.
Unfortunately due to an injury, local club trainer David Heath
missed the chance to step on Court with the French World No.3 as had
been planned.
In what was a fantastic evening of Squash & socialising, I'd like to
say thank you to David Heath and the Board Members of Squash Club
Vaduz for their efforts in putting the Event together. Main Sponsor
for the evening was the company Innomed - famous for their 'Bemer'
Mats.
8.40am Dec 21, Zürich: Jonathon
arrives ...
...after a late finish in Vaduz (2am) and an early pick-up Jonathan,
Greg & myself headed to Fribourg for Exhibition No.1 between the two
Stars.
As Greg & my partner Helene slept most of the two-Hour
drive, Jonathon and I chatted about the JP Squash Academy, the Top
10 Men and of course how he was already missing his 10-month old
baby girl, Parker.
The two club locals responsible for the organisation of the Event,
Daniel Rentsch & Fabrice Jakob put a wonderful evening together with
Fabrice leading the way with his very energetic animations of the
150-strong crowd as M.C for the evening.
For the record, Power scored first blood with a 3-1 victory over
Greg, fairly incidental however as both focused more on providing a
great display of tricks & wizardry with the racket, keeping the
crowd very entertained. Prior to the main event Swiss locals Andre
Holderegger, Marcel Straub & No.1 Nicolas Müller along with World
No.51 Julien Balbo provided the pre-match entertainment with best of
three matches.
Back to Zürich:
Dec 22, Vitis Schlieren ...
The finale for the two exhibitions brought us to the same Arena in
which Jansher Khan had defeated Chris Dittmar in the Super Series
Final 14 Years earlier.
Once again the evening was kicked off with pre-match games, this
time between myself & British Junior Open hopeful Nicolas Müller. That
was followed with more games between the same combination of players
as the night before, concluding with a doubles game, where three
points per rally started being awarded from referee Heath, keeping
in line with the tight schedule for the evening.
Greg & Jonathon then stole the show, playing a very entertaining
four-game affair which saw Greg exact some sort of revenge for the
night before by winning 3-1.
Afterwards it was time to relax though as many of the fans who'd
travelled from all parts of the country (as well as neighbouring
parts of France, Germany & Austria) were given the chance to meet
Greg & Jonathon and chat with their heroes and get a signature.
The evening was a great success, very much in line with the previous
two evenings and big thanks from me to Greg & Jonathon for not only
putting on a great show on-court, but also for being such great
ambassadors off the court, always giving time to all interested fans
just wanting to spend a few precious minutes with them.
Greg's 25th Birthday was celebrated until the early hours of the
morning in a Club somewhere in Zürich, now he'll go back home and
rest this week. The preparations for the multitude of Tournaments
coming up in the US in January-March means he'll back to the
grindstone in the first week of January... For Jonathon, it's
off to Mexico with his family for a couple of months to enjoy the
sunshine and get away from the depths of the Toronto Winter...'
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Jonathon, John & Greg
Action
photos by
Dominik
Fricker
www.dominikfricker.com
www.dominikfricker.com
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Jon & Greg with Cedric Rosa of
George J Von Burg
who donated the fine timepieces |
Power joins Gaultier
for Swiss Exhibitions
John Williams,
exhibition organiser,
former world #15, reports ... |
George J. Von Burg |
Former
World No.1 Jonathon Power & British Open Champion Gregory
Gaultier will do a short 'Xmas' Tour of Switzerland
this coming Friday & Saturday.
Originally Ramy Ashour was supposed to be playing but due to his
injured foot he was forced to withdraw from the Exhibitions, which
opened the door for Power, who saw a return to competitive action
for Canada in the World Teams in India last week, to join the
two-day Swiss Tour.
Two nights to savour ...
 The
first exhibition on Friday night, Dec 21st, will be at Fribourg
Squash Club. There will be a couple of Preview matches (three
Swiss Players with Julien Balbo WR No.51) and than Jonathon -
who retired at World No.1 in Feb. 06 - will play World No.3
Gaultier.
The evening is sold out with about 150 people expected viewing
behind a normal Glass-back Court.
The connection to this event for me is a guy called Daniel
Rentsch - President of Fribourg Squash Club and Event Organiser.
Daniel is yet another example of the wonderful people involved in
Squash Clubs all over the World, pouring their Heart & Soul into
this great game without any sort of remuneration other than the
privilege of seeing Power & Gaultier displaying the finest qualities
that the game can offer for any viewing audience.
The following evening the Exhibition Roadshow moves to Vitis
Schlieren, Zürich with a similar Program as in Fribourg -
preview matches including Julien Balbo & Nicolas Müller
(Swiss No.1).
Power & Gaultier will then no doubt delight the Swiss crowds once
again, by giving them their first taste of top-class squash over two
consecutive days since the Super Series Finals were held at the same
venue 15 years previously. Vitis is also my home Club.
With a permanent 3-sided glass court in Vitis approx. 300+ people
are expected to attend the evening in Zürich, culminating with
Gaultier's 25th Birthday party - a rare chance for the Frenchman to
let his hair down after a very hectic past couple of months!!!
Timely Presents ...
The two players will receive exclusive watches complimentary of the
company George J. Von Burg who continue to show their
dedication to Elite Squash in Switzerland with the sponsoring of
their products.
Alongside the two Exhibitions, Gregory Gaultier will arrive on
Thursday to do a Coaching Clinic at Squash Club Vaduz in
Liechtenstein, my former club, and current Club of David Heath
- former representative of the Scottish National Team alongside
brother Martin.
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