Qualifying Round Finals
Martin Bronstein, Squashtalk reporter on the scene at Grand Central Terminal

by Martin Bronstein, Live at Grand Central Terminal, New York, 17 Feb 2005
All content © 2005 Squashtalk, photos: © 2005 Debra Tessier

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Shahier Razik will not want to remember the last twelve months chalking up a series of losses that is inexplicable when his skill and experience is examined. From being in the top 20 Cairo-born Razik, now the Canadian number three, has now dropped to world number 40 and his bad luck continues. His match against Australian Cameron Pilley, ranked 41 was just two points old when Pilley's racket sliced through the air on the way to the ball and caught Razik's left hand with such force that Razik dropped his racket in his right to hand to hold the injured hand.

As Pilley was the incoming striker there could have been a good case for a stroke against Razik, but the referee called let, a decision that meant he interpreted the incident as an accident rather than self-inflicted and Razik had up to an hour to recover. He was back after 15 minutes but lost that first game easily. He put up a much better fight in the next two games, but the upcoming Pilley was too strong and booked his ticket for Grand Central Station and a $1000 guaranteed payday.

TWO ANCIENT EGYPTIANS….
The next two matches featured two Egyptians, both 28 years old and virtually unknown. Ahmed Hamza was in the draw as one of the eight 'locals': he works at the Westchester Squash Club in New York state with Richard Millman. Although he is hardly a household name, he reached the semis of the Egyptian nationals this year and is looking to get into the upper echelons of the game…at 28! Despite having a rankings in the hundreds he beat Gavin Jones of Wales in the first round. But reality soon reared its ugly head and when facing world number 25 Renan Lavigne of France, Hamza was given a sharp lesson in the fitness lesson required at the top level of squash. Mind you, he was not humbled. With his long legs and fast hands he was able to handle Lavigne's power and tightness. He recovered from a first game loss to lead the second game from the first rally to win 11-8. But then the legs went and then the mind and Lavigne kept the pace going to win the next two games fairly easily. Hamza does not possess the shotmaking skills usually found in Egyptian players, but he has patience. What he lacks is 'killer'squash: he merely pats too many shots into the center court short of a length allowing his opponents too many options.

And then came Mohamed Hafiz, another fairly unknown name despite being ranked 35. He and Ben Gould put on a display of an entirely different type of squash full of fireworks and cannonball shots. Gould hits the ball as hard as anybody in the game, using his 6ft 2" frame to wind up and put explosive power into the stroke. Hafiz was up to most of the cannonballs but there were some that were just too fast. Hafiz could easily be a top 20 player with his shots, his reading of the game and movement. Gould rarely seems to be rushed, his long legs helping to stroll to the required part of the court to unleash his rockets. He lost in four but good to see him back on the circuit. Gould is yet another 28 year old who was at the Australian Institute with the likes of Dan Jenson and Anthony Ricketts. But then he was felled by chronic fatigue syndrome.

"My body just shut down on me. It has taken four years to get well again. I was doing more shooting today against Hafiz because I was still tired from yesterday's match," he told me. In the first round of qualifying he beat Jan Koukal in five which is a very good results for this likeable player.

The Battle of the Brits had Peter Barker and Joey Barrington jostling each other around the court with none of the usual niceties expected of English Gentleman.
It wasn't great squash with both players stuck in expected patterns of play and producing very few surprises. Barrington pounded the ball down the right wall to probe lefty Barker's backhand and found a very profitable run of points due to some fine tight shooting to length. He won that first game and looked in control but Barker came back to dominate the second game to begin with and then started making some inexcusable errors to allow Barrington back in the game even to lead 8-7. Barker stopped his errors long enough to win the game and although he won the next two games, he will not be happy with his up and down form. He has played much better than this and now that he is in the main draw, he will have to if he has hopes of getting past the first round.

Two more Brits in the form of Bradley Ball and Ben Garner came on to demonstrate that university may be good for the mind, but it plays havoc with your squash. Ben Garner was a comer before going to Oxford for a couple or three years. For the last year he has been playing catch-up. While he took the first game from Bradley Ball, who has been labouring at the squash coalface continuously, Ball showed that he had become a better squash player during Garner's absence. Ball took the second game 11-3 from an increasingly frustrated Garner who, after one rally muttered "Jesus Christ" only to be warned for unacceptable language by the Canadian referee. I thought he was having a quick pray and will now look up the rules to see if praying is not permitted during a game.

Ball continued his dominance with greater accuracy coupled with tightness and length to win the third game 11-6 but Garner pulled out all the stops in an effort to get back into the match. He did too fighting all the way to 10-10 in the fourth but Ball kept his cool to take the next two points to book his place in the main draw.

Peter Barker's big brother Philip also took two years off to go to university and earn his degree in sports management. He is now back on the circuit trying to catch up on his little brother who is 16 places ahead of him (at 31 ) in the PSA rankings. Today he faced the tough Hisham Ashour, big brother of Remy Ashour, the current junior world champion.

Obviously the break did not do Barker the Elder too much harm because after losing the first game he won the second game after a tie-break, showing he was still as tough as ever. Philip will be remembered for helping England to a famous victory in Milan, when they beat Egypt for the junior world team title. Barker came back from two games down against Yasser El Hallaby to chalk up the victory of his life. So he is not afraid of the Egyptian magic.

Hashour the Elder plays an entertaining brand of squash, always chopping the ball short to move his opponent up to the front and testing them with lengths and more drops.

FINAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
Renan Lavigne (FRA) bt Ahmed Hamza (US) 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-3.
Mohamed Hafiz (EGY) bt Ben Gould (AUS) 11-10, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6.
Bradley Ball (ENG) bt Ben Garner (ENG) 10-12, 11-3, 11-6, 12-10.
Hisham Ashour (EGY) bt Philip Barker (ENG) 11-8, 10-11 (3-1) 11-6, 11-7.
Peter Barker (ENG) bt Joey Barrington (ENG) 4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7.
Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-6, 11-4, 11-6
Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Stephane Galifi (FRA)11-6, 11-9, 11-4.
Rodney Durbach (RSA) bt Alistair Walker (ENG) 11-6, 11-6, 10-11, 8-11, 11-10

MAIN DRAW
Round One starts Saturday Feb 19

[1]Thierry Lincou (FRA) vs Renan lavigne (FRA)
Mohammed Abbas (EGY) vs Simon Parke (ENG)
[7] Nick Matthew (ENG) vs Hisham Ashour (EGY)
[13]Adrian Grant (ENG) vs Alex Gough (WAL)
[4] David Palmer (AUS) vs Mark Chaloner (ENG)
[14] Joe Kneipp (AUS) vs Wael El Hindi (EGY)
[6] Jonathon Power (CAN) vs Rodney Durbach (RSA)
John White (SCO) vs Dan Jenson (AUS)
Anthony Ricketts (AUS) vs LJ Anjema (NED)
Mohd Azlan Iskander (MAS) vs [5]James Wilstrop
[16] Ong Ben Hee (MAS) vs Peter Barker (ENG)
[3] Peter Nicol (ENGF) vs Shahid Zaman (PAK)
[9] Amr Shabana (EGY) vs Bradley Ball (ENG)
[8] Karim Darwish (EGY) vs Olli Tuominen (FIN)
[12] Graham Ryding (CAN) vs Cameron Pilley (AUS)
[2] Lee Beachill (ENG) vs Mohammed Hafiz EGY)

Peter Nicol 2004 Winner - Will he win his 4th Tournament of Champions title? (photo: © 2005 Debra Tessier)