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Draws & Results
girls round
two complete |
Wed 29th, Day ONE:
Preliminaries over, it's
down to the action, with two rounds to play in both draws.
That's a lot of matches so (65 for the girls, 43 for the boys),
as ever, until we get down to manageable numbers we'll bring you
snippets of the action and anything else of interest .... stay
tuned ...
Photo Galleries & Video |
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Afternoon
Session - Round Two: |
Top two safely through
The local press was out in force for the first appearance of top
seed Dipika Pallikal, who eased past the USA's Natasha
Kingshott in straight games. Unfortunately I missed the whole
thing, but there will be lots in the papers tomorrow, so we'll
get some clippings.
Also out in force was the newly-arrived England Team (see
morning report below), supporting Nathan Lake as he took on defending champion
Mohamed El
Shorbagy. Lake took a game off the world #17, but Shorbagy
asserted to take the last two games and keep his title bid on
course.
Egyptians girls out in force
The girls' second round saw the strong Egyptian contingent enter
the fray, and seven of them went through to the last 32
including second and fifth seeds Heba and Nouran El Torky.
Performance of the day was from Yathreb Adel, who
overcame 9th seed Tong Tsz-Wing 13-11 in the fifth in the
longest match of the day.
Pakistanis progress ...
The biggest upsets were reserved for the boys event though, as
Nosherwan Khan and Nasir Iqbal both took out top
eight seeds.
Nosherwan took a tight first game against third seed Karim
Abdel Gawad, but lost the second after taking an injury
break. He reasserted though to take the next two for a stunning
upset, 15/13, 11/2, 11/7, 11/5.
"I lost to him in the BJO semi-finals, I was ahead in all the
games but lost due to mistakes. So I knew I had to play
differently today, I was controlled but still played
aggressively and it worked well.
"The injury affected me in the second game, but I couldn't feel
it in the third and fourth games.
"My coach prepared me really well for this match, I want to
thank him for that, I'm really happy with this win and
Insha'allah I'll continue to do well in this tournament."
 (on the left
in the photo)
And as often happens, you wait
all day for a significant upset and two come along at once -
Nasir Iqbal, one of youngest players in the draw at just 15,
taking out Finland's seventh seed Henrik Mustonen in five
- 11/9, 11/9, 11/13, 7/11, 11/3 - to make it a great day
for Pakistan.
In the final match of the day second seed Ivan Yuen (it
really was him in Cairo for the ATCO Junior, even though he was
down as Yven Youri there) beat Kuwait's Nasser Al-Rashid in
straight games, although the Malaysian needed many extra points
to take the second, 21-19.
Tomorrow brings two more rounds for the girls, and one for the
boys, at the end of which we'll be down to the
quarter-finalists. With 15 of the girls top 16 still in
contention, and the boys looking for more upsets, it should be
some day ...
More on the blog |
El Torky times two
Adel upsets Wing
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Harriet - England's one-girl team
 Poor
Harriet Ingham - she arrived a few days ago, all on her
own. The rest of the England team had visa problems, and after
arriving at Heathrow only to have to wave Harriet off, they were
stuck for a few days while they got their visas sorted.
So at the opening ceremony Harriet was the sole England
representative, and with the rest of the team due to land on the
morning of the first day's play, things were getting tight.
By the time Harriet went on court though, we knew that Plane
England had landed, and before Harriet had successfully
navigated her opening match home team support had duly arrived.
The rest of the squad, having flown in overnight, were straight
onto court as soon as Harriet finished ... hardly the best
preparation, but Rachael Chadwick and Millie Tomlinson
survived their opening matches, while Katherine Quarterman
succumbed to Pakistan's Zoya Khalid.
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Good day for the
French
A very successful start for the French squad as all but one won
through to the second round ...
more on the French |
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Good start for hosts
With the largest squad of all, comprising 23 players, hosts
India made a promising start to the championships with six
winners in the girls' first round compared to three losses.
The boys didn't fare as well, with three wins and eight losses,
including 9th seed Aditya Jagtap, who was beaten by one of the
two Mexicans here, Miled Zarazua.
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TODAY in Chennai |
Tue 28th, Day Zero
Arriving in Chennai ...
One day to go before the first-ever combined Girls' and Boys'
World Junior Individual Championships, and most of the
competitors are here. Some have been here a few days, enjoying
the tourist attractions and the sunshine - and getting some
practice on the Indian Squash Academy courts - with the
last remaining few arriving today or early tomorrow morning.
The tournament office is ready, the referees are holding a
symposium as we speak, and tonight sees the official opening
ceremony at the Raj hotel.
Extras #1: A grand
Opening
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Previews
More on the Blog |
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