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World University
Championships 2006 |
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 TEAM
GB DIARY
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who
are Team GB ??? |
Thursday
After a long previous day which culminated in a win for the GB team
there was to be no rest for the wicked as first round individual
matches started with Ryder and Beddoes on at 11.30am.
It was another successful day with everyone winning their matches
and player of the day going to Hinds who took out 2 seed Koukal 3-0,
Hinds was on fire…is there anyone who can put him out!?! Super
Hungarian attaché Clara who has been looking after the team so
brilliantly all week was particularly excited by Joel’s victory (!).
Interesting trip back to the hotel flouting all EU health and safety
regulations as 14 people squashed into 11 seats though Zena had a
little smile on her face perched upon master tactician Kear for the
10 minute journey!
Harford also decided that this journey was a good time to get
everything off his chest and having been cornered by a certain
Malaysian supporter in the showers he was in his own words „in and
out of there pretty rapidly”.
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Friday
On to the quarters, where unfortunately due to the draw (and Joel’s
antics the night before) there were two all GB clashes.
Siddall and Hinds came out on top, although Harford tried his best
to silence „lippy” Joel. Ryder also won through in a repeat of his
3-0 win in the team final over Fabien Verseille.
So it was on to the semis where Siddall was to yet again face Lim
Yoke Wah Lim. Coming back from 2-0 down again (she enjoys the
challenge) Siddall looked to be getting the better of her pocket
sized opponent but while she may be small the Malaysian certainly
fights and Wah Lim managed to hang in there for a 3-1 win. In the
men’s the Professor won through 3-0 in the all GB clash against a
now pretty exhausted Lippy.
Quote of the day goes to the ref in the Illingworth/Krajscak match.
On questioning the reasoning behind a no let decision against him,
Illingworth asked why it wasn’t a let and the helpful ref replied „I
don’t really know why”.Ummmm…..
Other matches of note in the afternoon session included Harford v
Verseille in the 5/8 playoff with Harford winning the battle of the
nicks despite a delay in the 2nd game due to slow „shot making”.
It was an early night for the Professor but Hinds saw his poker
crown taken away after a 2nd successive defeat at the hands of
Harford (though Beddoes is champion of the more important card games
of cheat and chase the ace).
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Saturday
Finals day: everybody was in action today as the gruelling week came
to a head with final position playoffs.
Beddoes and Harford started early finishing 5th and 6th respectively
before everyone moved over to the glass court in every dedicated
students second home the pub....er sorry library.
Siddall and Hinds came away with bronze, Hinds earning his medal
only after teaming up with Harford and once again showing the French
boys how it’s done in an exhibition doubles match.
The crowd was now suitably warmed up for the 2 finals and they
didn’t disappoint with Yoke Wah Lim coming out the 3-2 victor in the
women’s over Kathrin Rohrmuller of Germany and leaving the stage set
for the final match of the competition.
And so it was the whole population of Hungary Vs GB (7 at the last
count and a few stragglers) or if you prefer Krajcsak Vs Ryder to
decide the men’s gold. Ryder had been in blistering form all week
and had really taken to the glass court but facing the world no 62
and number one seed in front of his home crowd isn’t exactly a walk
in the park and it was Krajscak who took the first.
But they haven’t nicknamed him the Professor for nothing as Ryder
out-thought, out- manoeuvered and simply out-played Krajscak in the
next 3 games to bring home a totally deserved 2nd gold and Team GB’s
4th medal of the championships.
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Finals night:
Following the closing ceremony and the after the 3rd playing of the
FISU national anthem it was back to the club to celebrate the
culmination of a great week for Team GB.
Hinds being the youngest member of the squad wisely decided to put
himself to bed early but not before wowing the crowds with his err
swimming prowess and sustaining his second facial injury of the week
on a trampoline.
So it was off to local night spot Club Sing Sing (yes really!) and a
good time was had by all with squash players from all countries
certainly doing their bit for international relations.
We have it on good authority that the close relationship the USA
enjoys with GB can only have been enhanced by these championships
and all that endurance training over the summer certainly paid off
as the fittest (!) members of the squad made it back in time for
breakfast.
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And Finally ...
Team GB would like to thank everybody who made our week in Szeged
such a great experience: organisers, players and officials alike
with a special shout out to Rachel our physio and Clara our
Hungarian attaché.
But special mention has to go to one Mr Keir Worth (England squash
coach, Worcestershire county player and super tactician) without
whom the week wouldn't have been so much fun on and off the court.
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TEAM
GB DIARY
MAIN PAGE
who
are Team GB ??? |
Sunday
Early start on Sunday saw the GB team up at 5am and it was a short
12 hours later they arrived at the hotel!
Robinson extending his management skills ... Hinds blacklisted at
all international airports after leaving suitcase to look after
itself at Heathrow.
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TEAM FINALS NEWS
direct from Szeged |
Monday
The opening ceremony translated as bedtime for Harford and Siddall
but somehow Jonny managed to rouse himself for the scantily-clad
Hungarian dancers showing us their 'culture'! (All males left happy
and some females too)
Initial poker won by rank amateur Kier Worth(less) left the group
thinking "freak upsets do happen..." so off to bed to prepare for
the next day.
Ian kept up 'til late by chatty Kier. Does he ever shut up? Weeell...you
say he talks a lot...etc.
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Tuesday
Quarters: Tough game for Siddall. At 2-2, passion was high on
both sides resulting in one Malaysian supporter violently cheering
tins and strokes. British to a fault, Beddoes was having none of
this... "Excuse me, I don't know how your parents brought you up..."
3-2 Malaysia and diplomatic relations restored, it was all down to
the boys and they were up to the task, dropping only five points
between them.
Semis: Birthday girl Beddoes (21 today) got the team off to a
solid start against a strong opponent. South Africans are nothing if
not tenacious and although both men's matches were 3-0, they were
both well contested. Into the final...
Poker night No. 2: Joel turned up Nadal-style all guns blazing and
didn't disappoint (1001, 1002...)
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Wednesday - Final
The glass court, appropriately positioned in the library where
re-sitting students began to see red, was the setting for GB v
France.
Lauren played so well she was taken away by 'Boris and Olga', the
drug-testing duo - that was the last we saw of her for a while!
Chris, who has since been nicknamed the "Professor" by Hungarian
press, went on and was awesome against Fabien, who had no answers to
the Professor's questions.
WE WERE WORLD (uni) CHAMPIONS!!!
but where was Lauren?? It was only in the middle of the second game
of Jonny's dead rubber (!) that bladder movement occurred and she
was released from purgatory.
A cheeky beer and a glass of champers were had by all (with Harford
winning the poker).
On to the individuals...report coming soon.
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THE MANAGER'S COLUMN
Ian Robinson talks to Tamás Dobos of Squash News
There is no better expression in Hungarian to describe the
British team then 'aranyos', which also means nice and gold medalist
at the same time. That was what came into my mind first, when
starting the interview with team leader, Ian Robinson on the first
morning after the glorious Bri-tish victory in Wednesday's team
final.
We had a lovely day, a very happy evening and a nice, little
celebration – started the manager with a short summing up. The
celebration might have been small, but the victory was much bigger
since Great Britain proved to be unbeatable on the glass court.
No surprise, one could say, since the game was invented in the
United Kingdom. Yes it was, but it is a nightmare, when one has
eight good players and one can only bring five of them to a
tournament. However, in this case the competition for places is
extremely high, and after reducing the number to five, all of the
players get really desperate about playing well – added the former
best 16th player of the world ranking. In connection with the world
championship, the current commentator of Sky Television mentioned
that the level is getting higher and higher in the last three-five
years, since squash is having more players at a good standard.
Although the draw of the individuals was not very kind with Great
Britain, but there is still a great chance for them to be around the
finals since all the players are involved in Friday's programme. –
We are saving up for Saturday – answered Lauren Siddall for
the question about the length of Wednesday's celebration. Well, to
celebrate her probable victory on Saturday, first the young women,
placed 62th on the world and 15th on the national ranking, has to
win against the other British lady, Emma Beddoes, the British
University Champion of 2005.
It is surely going to be a fantastic match, but they know each other
so well, that it will be almost impossible to come up with something
new for both of them. Besides considering that Lauren will might be
in a bit better shape since she had to play one match less on
Thursday. At the same time the fact that Emma's racket had to be
re-stringed doesn't mean that she had so much hard work with getting
into the quarter-final.
It is not only the ladies who will meet each other in the
quarter-finals, since all British gentlemen are on the bottom half
of the draw. Jonathan Harford, the currently 111th positioned
player on the PSA ranking and Joel Hinds, this year's
finalist on the British National Junior Championship are meeting
each other in a battle for the semi-finals. The winner is hard to
guess again, since both Jonathan, having finished his business
studies at University of Birmingham recently, and Joel, poker
'expert' and the best spoons player of the British team, showed
confident play on Thursday's matches.
Either it will be Harford or Hinds, the semi-final seems to be tough
as well, since the one who have gone further is likely to meet
Christopher Ryder, the third British participant of the men’s
tournament. As for Chris, 114th on the PSA ranking, it is enough to
say that he is expected to be in the first 50 of the world ranking
pretty soon.
There is no better proof for that, then the results of his two
matches on Thursday: Ryder – Manik 3:0 (9:2, 9:1, 9:2), Ryder –
Gilpin Lane (9:2, 9:1, 9:0). So he really has a good chance to
increase the number of British gold medals, but the other top
players, including Hungarian first seed, Márk Krajcsák think it
differently.
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01-Sep-06:
GB ON A ROLL
Zena Wooldridge reports
Team GB
strengthened their dominance in the World University Squash
Championships on the first day of the Individual event. Less than 24
hours after securing team gold against the French, all five Brits
progressed to the quarter-finals of the individual championship
without dropping a game between them, thus substantiating the GB
team's frustrations over the unfavourable draws.
The Brits secured two upsets to the seedings in round two yesterday.
With Ryder, Harford and Siddall despatching their opponents for a
handful of points between them, Emma Beddoes gave her best
performance of the week so far in eliminating the 5-8 seeded
American, Lily Lorentzen in a comfortable 3-0.
But the highlight of the event so far was Joel Hinds' lifetime best
performance in beating the number 2 seed, the Czech Jan Koukal 3-0
(9/6, 10-8, 9/3) in 70 minutes.
It was inspired play from Hinds, whose game has moved to an
altogether new level under the coaching and guidance of GB Team
Coach Keir Worth and Manager Ian Robinson. It was a highly mature
performance from the youngest player of this squad whose members
show a highly professional belief in their ability to clinch medals
that is securing the respect of competitors and officials at these
championships.
The draws have not been kind to the British. Surprisingly, neither
Beddoes nor Hinds were seeded, while Harford & Hinds are drawn in
the same quarter, as are Beddoes & Sidall, so they meet today in the
quarters. The winner of Hinds and Harford should then meet Ryder in
this evening's semi-final.
But spirits remain high in the British camp, and their prediction is
still three individual medals by the end of Saturday to add to the
team gold. |
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Team GB
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Jonathon Harford
(University of Birmingham)
 Plays
for Chapel Allerton Squash Club in Leeds and Gloucester County.
World Ranking: 111 |
Chris Ryder
(Loughborough University)
 The
BUSA Individual Squash Champion in 2003 and plays for Wolverhampton
Squash Club.
World Ranking: 114
National Ranking: 29 |
Lauren Siddall
(University of Leeds)
 The
BUSA Individual Squash Champion in 2004 and 2006 and plays for
Pontefract Squash Club and Yorkshire County.
World Ranking: 62
National Ranking: 15 |
Emma Beddoes
(University of Nottingham)
 The
BUSA Individual Squash Champion in 2005 and plays for Leamington
Squash Club and Warwickshire County.
World Ranking: 118
National Ranking: 19 |
Joel Hinds
(University of Birmingham)
 Finalist
in the National Junior Squash Championships in 2006. |
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GB Management Team |
Ian Robinson
Team Manager:
Director of Performance Squash at the University of Surrey and
England Squash Board Member. Former England International squash
player. |
Keir Worth
Team Coach:
England Squash Performance Coach and former Head Coach and Squash
Development Manager at the University of Birmingham |
Rachel Burgin
Team Physiotherapist. |
 BUSA is the governing body of
university sport, running national competitions in 49 sports from
Athletics to Windsurfing, and co-ordinating the Great Britain
representative teams for the World University Games and World
University Championships. |
The BUSA
Sporting programme draws on 1.4 million students with over 3500
teams engaged in BUSA competition on a typical sporting day. With
over 600 leagues, it is the biggest such sporting programme in
Europe. Fixtures and results from all BUSA competitions can be
accessed at www.busa.org.uk. |
Many university participants have gone
on to achieve British and International success in their
chosen sport, such as Paula Radcliffe, Monty Panesar, James
Cracknell, Stephanie Cook, Nasser Hussain, Kate Howey, Audley
Harrison, James Gibson and Will Greenwood. |
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