Opening Ceremony
Posted by Tom Quinn on 25-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
(photo courtesy Steve Line of squashpics.com)
The night begins with greetings from the Town Crier of Hamilton. He then welcomes Robert Edwards – the “Voice of Squash”.
The drums of the Bermuda Regiment then provide some musical accompaniment, and Robert Edwards introduces some of the players from the different countries being represented – led out by John White of Scotland.
He tells Bermuda to be proud of what has been achieved, and gives special thanks to Kim Carter, Tournament Chairman, Ross Triffitt, Tournament Director, and Marc de Verteuil, Facilities Director. He also thanks the team of volunteers who made all this happen.
Edwards then asks David Gibbons, Chairman of the BSRA, and Dr. The Hon. Ewart Brown, Premier of Bermuda and Minister for Tourism, to come to the stage. The Premier tells Edwards that it has been a great year for Bermuda in terms of “Sports Tourism”, with the PGA Grand Slam, the World Triathlon Championship, the Gold Cup and now this event. He says that such events only serve to increase the focus on the island and help tourism.
The dignitaries and Drum band depart the stage, and Edwards welcomes Frenchman Renan Lavigne – one of the “three musketeers” who was a qualifier until Egyptian Karim Darwish dropped out through injury and Lavigne made it to the main draw. But his luck ran out when he drew his opponent…Then he welcomes the “Prince of Cairo” – one year and seven months at the top of the world. Amr Shabana. And the first match in the main venue of the Endurance World Open Bermuda 2007 begins in earnest.
History Being Made
Posted by Tom Quinn on 25-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
In April 2004, an historic agreement with the Professional Squash Association (PSA) was signed. The agreement was for Bermuda to host the PSA Masters in 2005 and 2006, and then be home to the largest squash tournament in the world – the World Open Championships, in 2007.
After more than three years in the making, the opening ceremony of the Endurance World Open Bermuda 2007 will take place tonight at the custom-built venue at the Fairmont Southampton.
The action starts at 6pm with World number one and Masters Champion Amr Shabana taking on Frenchman Renan Lavigne. This will then be followed by local Bermuda wildcard James Stout playing Stewart Boswell of Australia – a match which will no doubt see Stout receive fantastic support from a partisan crowd in the 1400 seater arena overlooking the South Shore.
But there will be action earlier in the day as four matches take place at the Bermuda Squash Racquets Association (BSRA) at Devonshire, starting at midday.
For more details read Today at the Open
Press Report for Sunday 25th November
Posted by on 25-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
After 2 days of qualifying matches at the Devonshire Squash Courts, all systems are go for the start of the Endurance World Open Bermuda 2007 Squash Championship at the Fairmont Southampton stadium, as we hear in this report from Squash spokesman, Roger Sherratt:
By late Saturday we had 8 players qualify for the main draw and they join the world’s top 23 and our own wildcard James Stout to battle it out for the Endurance World Open title this week. Not unexpectedly, our 4 local qualifiers were all knocked out, but Canadian squash fans had something to cheer about when Shawn Delierre of Montreal triumphed 3-2 against his Australian opponent in the longest and one of the most exciting matches so far – 77 minutes of action packed squash. But Delierre will need all the fan support he can muster when he goes up against the current World Open Champion, Dave Palmer of Australia in one of tonight’s matches following the Opening Ceremony.
Attention now turns to the all glass court in Southampton, which is all set and looks magnificent. The Opening Ceremony gets underway at 6 this evening followed by a match between the current world #1 ranked player (and #1 seed) Amr Shabana of Egypt and Renan Lavigne of France, followed by our own James Stout who takes on the world #15 Stewart Boswell of Australia.
We have great 4 matches every night, starting at 6pm on the all glass court until Finals Night next Saturday. And for anyone coming to watch, parking is available at Horseshoe Bay, with free hotel shuttle service up to the venue. Tickets for tonight are still available on the internet at www.boxoffice.com, or at the venue an hour before doors open.
Roger J. Sherratt, Press Officer, Bermuda Squash Racquets Association
Eight Qualifiers Progress
Posted by Tom Quinn on 24-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
Saturday saw the culmination of the qualifying for the Endurance World Open 2007. Four Englishmen made it through to the main draw, along with a Mexican, a Canadian, an American and an Egyptian.
The matches, played at the Devonshire club, provided a great spectacle for the audience. The first match up was Alister Walker playing Miguel Angel Rodriguez. Walker, who had a bye in the first round, looked fresh and proceeded to take the first game 11-5. In the second Rodriguez managed to grab the lead, but persistence from Walker allowed him to take the game 11-9. The third game was another close-run thing, but Walker pulled off some spectacular recovery shots to take the win. He now plays John White in the main draw.
Eric Galvez from Mexico was next on court, playing Aussie Ryan Cuskelly. Galvez had not struggled too much in his first round game and it showed. Even though Cuskelly managed to keep pace with the Mexican in all three games, Galvez had the skills to finish the match. The games were much closer than the 3-0 results suggest. Galvez moves on to face El Hindi.
Englishman Bradley Ball then continued his dominant form from the first round, dispatching Egyptian El Halaby 3-0 in little under half an hour, and will play Peter Barker in the main draw.
Next on court two was Canadian Shawn Delierre – playing Australian Scott Arnold. This was a nailbiting up and down match, which went to fives games and lasted an hour and twenty minutes. Arnold had already come through a tough match the day before against Liam Kenny. Delierre had had a 5-set match against Engelbrecht. Delierre took the first two, Arnold grabbed the next two, before the Canadian closed out. The final scores were 12/10, 11/5, 5/11, 7/11, 11/5 – Delierre will now play David Palmer on the glass court.
Julian Illingworth then proceeded to play a textbook 3-0 game against Egyptian Omar Elborolossy. The American played some fantastic length shots and finished 11/8, 11/5, 11/7. Thierry Lincou will be his opponent in the main draw.
The audience were then thrilled by another 5 set match. Jonathon Kemp of England played Kashif Shuja of New Zealand. Kemp started slowly and lost the first, but then rattled off two quick games to go 2-1 up. In the fourth Shuja played some fantastic squash to take it to 2-2, but he could not keep up the momentum, and Kemp closed out the match 3-2. The game scores were 7/11, 11/4, 11/2, 5/11, 11/4. Kemp moves on to play Ong Beng Hee.
Another thriller was then served up as Egyptian Omar Mosaad defeated Saurav Ghosal of India 11/5, 9/11, 9/11, 11/4, 11/6. Both players were in great form and playing some superb strokes. Mosaad now plays Olli Tuominen in the main draw.
The final qualifying match saw Daryl Selby of England beat Egyptian Omar Abdel Aziz 3-0. The first two games were won convincingly – 11/4 and 11/7 – but Selby was taken to a tie-break in the third, which he clinched 13/11. In the draw for the main event, Selby then drew the number two seed Gregory Gaulthier.
A tough day for Bermuda
Posted by Tom Quinn on 23-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
Day one of qualifying for the Endurance World Open Bermuda 2007 was a tough one for the four local players representing Bermuda. All were beaten by their opponents at the Bermuda Squash Racquets (BSRA) venue, which means that Bermuda’s only representative will be James Stout, who has the wildcard entry to the main draw. That, of course, excludes David Palmer, Australian but part-time Bermuda resident and two-time winner of the World Open.
The four locals – Nick Kyme, Chase Toogood, Mel Caines and Patrick Foster – all played valiantly – backed up by a partisan crowd at the Devonshire club, but were ultimately dispatched by better opponents.
Two of the Bermuda representatives, Kyme and Foster, are previous Tour professionals, but the speed and accuracy of Miguel Angel Rodriguez and Julian Illingworth respectively was just too much for them.
The major upsets of the day went to Australia – Ryan Cuskelly and Scott Arnold both had good wins and progress to the second round of qualifying.
The action for day two of qualifying starts at 12 noon at the BSRA tomorrow. The 8 victors will earn the right to progress to themain draw of the Endurance World Open Bermuda 2007, and have the chance to play on the spectacular glass court overlooking the beautiful South Shore of Bermuda.
