Amr Shabana is World Champion
Posted by Tom Quinn on 01-Dec-2007Categories: News Add Trackback
(photo courtesy of Steve Line squashpics.com)
Egyptian Amr Shabana has defeated Gregory Gaultier of France in the final of the Endurance World Open in Bermuda. Shabana, the World number one, becomes the World Champion and crowns a superb year – his win in Bermuda follows back-to-back wins in Saudi, Qatar and Hong Kong.
Shabana won the match 3-0 in 42 minutes with game scores of 11-7, 11-4, 11-6. With the victory the Egyptian becomes one of the select few to have won the World title three times.
The first game saw some great rallies and shots from both players, but Shabana’s kills shots really made the difference, giving him the edge. In the second game the Egyptian dominated – his winners were brilliant, and Gaultier made errors that we had not seen before tonight – Shabana treated the audience to a clinic on squash at the highest level. Game three saw a large number of let plays, and at one point it seemed that Gaultier may have the ability to get back into the match, but Shabana stepped up a gear and Gaultier made several mistakes. Once the Egyptian had a three point lead lead it was apparent that Gaultier was not going to prevail, and the Egyptian raised his arms in victory as he won the deciding point.
After the match, Shabana said that Gaultier was unbeatable 99% of the time, but today he had managed to beat him. But he wasn’t so sure that he would be able to do the same in the future.
The Egyptian was then presented with the World Open trophy by Ken LeStrange, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Title Sponsor Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd.
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?