PROSQUASH
Vol 12 No. 1 Issue No.
45 January 2008
Chief Patron: Harshvardhan Patil (Minister, Govt of Maharashtra) // Founder Director: Mahendra Agarwal // Directors : Narendra Gour (I.R.S.) Navneet Soni (I.R.S.) //Executive Directors: Anil Diggikar (I.A.S), Bipin Bihari (I.P.S), Bharat Bhushan (I.R.S)// Honored Patrons: Vivek Nair (VC & M.D.The Leela), Sajjan Jindal (Chairman & M.D. JSW Steel Ltd), Eric Dastur (Chairman, K.M. Dastur Reinsurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.) // President: Ashish Gupta // Vice President: Noreena // Secretary General: Sanjay Goyal // Joint Secretary: Vicky Kalludi // Treasurer: Ashok Nagpal // Executive Committee Mem.: Saifee Jani, Rakesh Lakhanpal, Madhukar Musle, Karan Mehra, Ajit Singh, Imroz Pathan // Advisor: Pradeep K. Vijayakar // Chief Executive: Vidhya Rao // Technical Director: Amitoj Inder Singh // Chief Co-ordinator: Riaz Mohammed
WORLD MENS OPEN 2007
Up close to a world class event
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Pradeep Vijayakar’s World Team Squash dairy. December 4 : On arrival at Chennai I check in at Presidency Club and rush to the Taj Connemara Hotel where one group of players is staying. One meets the local officials. Then one looks for the world champ Amr Shabana. Always best to start with a bang. One calls Amr. He is going out with his team for dinner, can I come at 11.30 p.m.? Isn't that late. I tell him next day 10.30 a.m. December 5 : At 10.30 one meets Amr in room 405. It's a mess, I manage to get space on the sofa. He talks about getting stale, two back-to-back world events. But he wants to win it for his country having won for self, the World Open in Bermuda. But the news is not good in the Egypt camp. One feels sorry for them. No 2 Ramy Ashour is not playing, No 8 Wael El Hindi has a hip problem lost in the second round at Bermuda. |
| No. 5 Karim Darwish is having calf problems. At the noon press conference one meets the players and officials. Indian players are hoping they play Holland rather than Wales in the knockout. Ritwik has beaten the Dutch No 2 Dylan. In the evening opening ceremony, Maj Maniam the anchor, has the audience in splits with his jokes. He introduces all teams. Raja Randhir Singh, of the IOA, promises help to squash to get into the Olympics. |
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December 6 : India get off to a good start, beating Bermuda . The best two of Bermuda haven't come couldn't get time off as they spent it during the World Open they hosted. Egypt struggle against Finland. Mohammed Abbas and Amr Shabana drop a game to Henrik Mustonen and Ollie Tuominen who plays really well and recalls how he beat Amr in an u-14 event.
December 7 : It's India vs Pakistan in squash, always an unequal battle. But India have narrowed the gap. Farhan Mehboob is a notorious bad starter, drops a game to Siddharth Suchde. Sid doesn't finish the rallies Mehboob gets the chance
CONTD........2