Quick Updates

Several things happened recently and I will quickly go through it.

1. Squashsite, the most popular squash site for enthusiast to get the latest updates of tournaments and news, ended on the same day Nicol David won her 3rd World title. The 2 people running it, Framboise and Steve Cubbins had to call it quits as they just managed to cover cost of running the site and covering the events on a shoestring budget. On top of that, they had to take leave from work every time they went to cover an event. A long protracted negotiation with PSA (Professional Squash Players Association) did not materialised and thus leaving them no option but to shut down. The closing of the website sparked a worldwide petition from enthusiast and players to save it.

Thanks to James Wilstrop's manager Mick Todd, the website is now up and running again. Kudos and thanks Mick. To Steve and Fram, I am very glad to have you back and running again.

2. PAR (Point A Rally or American) scoring has been made the Official Scoring System of WSF from 1st April 2009 onward worldwide. There has been a lot of arguments and debates on whether the scoring should remain or be switched and finally been decided at the WSF AGM during the World Championships.

Looks like my friend Mr. Ken Goh finally get his wish for Malaysia to switch to PAR scoring. To SRAM, when will you implement it?

3. Ramy Ashour has become only the 2nd person ever after the legendary Jansher Khan to win both the World Junior and then the World Open title. Ashour from Egypt was a 2 time World Junior Champion, made his breakthrough this year disposing the defending champion and countrymate, Amr Shabana in the semifinal. Point to note, Egypt has 3 players in the semis with Karim Darwish who also was another World Junior Champ making the finals against Ashour.

Based on that, the DG of NSC Malaysia has instructed SRAM to look into the Egyptian training module and see if it would be better to send our players there for attachment compared to England. Read my lips SRAM, DECENTRALISE YOUR TRAINING BASE!!!

More on that later. Till then, cheers and happy squashing.

China Open Finals

I've been busy the last 2 days to update the post. The semifinals and finals were played in the Bailian New Era Mall and the set up a glass court. The court is actually the very old perspex (plexi-glass is another name. It is like plastic) court that was used in the '80's. It was given to China Squash by Hong Kong Squash as part of their commitment in developing the game. It is at the moment not in the best of conditions but at least playable.

Stephane Galifi (Fra) upset Max Lee (HK) 3-1 to win the Men's title while Heba El Torky (Egy) beat her younger sister Nouran El Torky in a tough 5 games match.
Part of the entertainment was provided by a group of rope jumping guys and gals. It was something that I have yet to see in Malaysia at a squash event. Good idea on behalf of the organizers.
The Finals was packed with people and I bare managed to get a seat. Overall, it was a success in the eyes of the organizers and China Squash. Cheers and till next time.

China Open 2008

Today 17/10/08
Squashsite has updated the results of the tournament. Click here.
Today we had the 1st round in the morning and quarterfinals in the evening. I don't have all the scores but I have the semifinals line up. They are:

Men
Stephane Galifi (Fra) vs Romain Tenant (Fra)
Max Lee (HK) vs David Vidal (Esp)

Women
Christina Mak (HK) vs Heba El Torky
Deon Saffery (Wales) vs Nouran El Torky

I tried to get the updated scores from the organizers but I could not. Then I tried Squashsite but they too have not been updated. Even the PSA and Wispa sites are not updated. So bear with me on this.

Below are pictures from today. Enjoy and cheers.

Womens Draw

Men's Draw

Official T-Shirt Design

Official T-Shirt Design

Group Photo

Heba El Torky (left) and Nouran El Torky of Egypt

Deon Saffery of Wales

David Vidal of Spain

Matteo Amadei a.k.a Meng Xiaomin of China

Yesterday (16/10/08)



Today is the actual start of the event. I did not manage to get the qualifying results but hopefully tomorrow. In the mean time, enjoy the pictures.








This is Franco Amadei who is the Tournament Referee. He speaks fluent Mandarin, English and his very own Italian Language. He is also Matteo's dad.







On the left is Kam Hing and on the right is Elvinn. Both are from Malaysia. Kam Hing is from Perak and Elvinn from Penang








This funny fellow is Stephane Galifi. He's French but is in the process of trying to play for Italy. His family is from Sicily, Italy. One cool dude and one heck of a squash player.







This is Alex Ingham from England. He spent the last month in Egypt for some training. He's shorter than me... Wohooo!!!








These referees and markers were having a busy day. They come from Shangai, Hangzhou (2 hours by train) and Beijing to assist and contribute to the success of the event.







These boys are from Egypt and are super nice. They promised to take me around Cairo and so on when I go there for the World Women's Team Championship in December







Come back tomorrow for more pictures and hopefully the results of the 1st round. Cheers..



(15/10/08)

This was part of the crowd that was there today.

This is the organizing group that is responsible for the tournament. Most of the pro players arrived today and qualifying starts tomorrow. Will update this post daily with reports and pictures. Come back soon. Cheers.

Long Time No See

Here are some updated photos. The following are scenic views from Matteo's apartment which is on the 31st floor. Enjoy.










Been a long time sine my last post. Come back regularly to check my update on the OCM survey which will be done soon. In the meantime, let me show you a little of my life in Shanghai. Enjoy the pictures.


Shanghai Tower


Nite View of the City




The Famous Xin Tian Dee (hope I got the spelling correct)




Day Time View





Matteo's House (Living Room)



Matteo's House (My room)




Will post more pictures soon. Cheers for now. Bye