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5th World Deaf
Championships 2010
Palmerston North, New Zealand |
www.worlddeafsquash.com |
Day 6
Individual Championships – Final
Matt Burnett reports from the England camp
All England final today, World number 2, Phil Thomas
up against the World Number 1, Jamie Mathews.
Both played very well and it was some of the best squash of
the competition, with both players playing fantastic shots
and having some incredibly long rallies, but Jamie
controlling the game managed to work Phil hard and came out
the eventual winner winning 3-0, 11/3 11/6 11/8.
Congratulations to Jamie Mathews for winning the 2010
World Deaf Championship!
Well done to Phil Thomas for doing so well and coming 2nd,
and a big well done to all the players competing in the
competition this year! Look forward to seeing everyone again
in England 2012/13.Day 5
Individual Championship
With all the team matches over, everyone is focusing on
their individual matches to find out their final ranking
positions. First up was an all England match with
Jonathan Cota against Simon Jones. Both players
very evenly matched, with nice rallies and great shots, but
Jonathan Cota just had that little bit more energy and won
the match 3-1 11/2 6/11 11/5 13/11.
Shane Pletts was next on, but unfortunately his
opponent pulled out, so Shane won automatically.
Matthew Hewitt was on against Ben Bruggy of
Australia, a repeat of yesterdays team match where Matthew
won 3-2. This time round Matthew was very tired and had hurt
his arm. But he pushed him self through the games with some
brilliant shots.
Losing the first 9/11 Matthew pulled the next two back 12/10
11/4 to go 2-1 up. Big rallies and fast play from both
players, tested their fitness and Ben took the fourth 3/11.
All square going into the last game and both players are
shattered, some fantastic squash, keeping the crowd very
entertained, but Matthew took the final game 11/8! 3-2 9/11
12/10 11/4 3/11 11/8.
Jonathan Oster was up against South African Chris
Nortier, Chris took the first two games with great shots
7/11 5/11, but unfortunately Jonathan retired due to a knee
injury.
Brian Rawlinson was on against Johan Niemand
of South Africa. In a very close battle between the two,
great lengths and drops from both players, Brian managed to
overcome his opponent and win 3-1 11/6 10/12 12/10 12/10.
The first Semi Final was up next and it was Phil Thomas
against Australian Peter Walters. Peter a great
player with some beautiful shots, but Phil looked very comfy
throughout the whole game and played much better length and
width and won the match 3-1, 11/0 11/8 10/12 11/7.
The second Semi Final was on and it was Jamie Mathews
and Australian Mark Friend. Mark a very good player
with fantastic speed, played very well, but Jamie showed why
he was World Number 1 and produced some outstanding squash,
looking very comfortable and winning 3-0 11/4 11/6 11/2.
All England final ahead of us with World number 2, Phil
Thomas up against the World Number 1, Jamie Mathews.
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Day 3
Matt Burnett reports from the England camp
Day 3 was a rest day for the all the teams. All of the
England team and a few members from South Africa and New
Zealand team went down to “Gravity Canyon” for an
extreme team bonding session! Jamie Mathews was the only
player brave enough to bungee the 80m high bridge above the
river!! Well done Jamie!! The rest of the team had a go on
the “Flying Fox”, a 180m high zip wire, which cruised
through the canyon for 1km at 160kmh!!
Next up was the Go Karts in the city, which everyone was
geared up for and a lot of team banter of who was going to
be the slowest and fastest! Everyone was very competitive on
the track with loads of thrills and spills! But we were all
beaten by the local boy of Palmerston, Joseph Watts (World
ranked squash player!) Who very kindly drove us around that
day, so big thanks to him for that! I won’t mention the
order everyone came in!!
Good day out of team bonding and fun! Back to the squash
tomorrow!Day 4
Team Championship
Day 4 starts and it’s the Final of the team championships
and England are against the strong opponents Australia!
Everyone is nervous and first up is number 3 Matthew Hewitt
against Ben Bruggy.
Matthew was nervous to start with but started well, winning
the first game 11/3 with some good shots, but the next two
games Ben had warmed up and was applying pressure and
forcing mistakes from the nervous Matthew. Ben won the next
two games 6/11 3/11. With a loads of encouragement from the
team, Matthew went back on court guns blazing, playing some
brilliant shots and working his opponent hard! To take the
next game 11/7. All down to the last games and some
fantastic rallies and shots from both players, a very close
ending, but Matthew managed to produce an extra bit of
brilliance near the end to take the match 11/8.
Phil Thomas is on court next against Mark Friend. A good
match between the two with some very big rallies and great
shots from both players! Mark used his fast speed to take
the first game 8/11. After this Phil managed to wear him
down for the next game and take the game 11/4. The last two
games were much closer and had a few excellent shots in from
Phil and Mark, but Phil managed to take the last two games
11/9 11/9 winning 3-1.
Next up was Jamie Mathews, Englands Number 1 against Anthony
Stanford. Jamie looked very comfortable throughout the game,
forcing mistakes from Anthony with great play and excellent
shots! To take the match 3-0 11/3 11/2 11/9!
ENGLAND ARE 2010 WORLD DEAF CHAMPIONS !!
Congratulations to all the team for all their hard work!
Individual Championship
Celebrations on hold till Saturday night, the individuals
got under way for the afternoon with first of the England
lot on, Shane Pletts versus Brian Rawlinson. Shane going in
to the match as underdog worked hard and pushed Brian in
each game, with some very long rallies and good squash, but
Brian managed to produce great shots and excellent play to
win the match 3-0 11/5 11/9 11/7.
Phil was up against Ben Bruggy of Australia. Phil knew it
was going to be a tough match. Fantastic shots from each
player and really long rallies, with Phil and Ben absolutely
shattered! Phil managed to edge each game and won 3-0 11/8
11/9 12/10.
On the other court was Jonathan Oster v Wayne Cloete of New
Zealand. Jonathan had prepared well for the game, and with
some very confident play, won 3-0 comfortably 11/5 11/3
11/4.
Englands Simon Jones was on against Paul Walter of New
Zealand. Simon was too good for Paul and played great squash
to take the match 3-0 11/3 11/4 11/5.
Another match was on with two England players, which was
Jamie Mathews v Matthew Hewitt. An excellent game from both
players, with some beautiful squash and fantastic shots, but
Matthew was tired from his 5 setter earlier and Jamie won
3-0 11/1 11/2 11/1.
Jonathan Cota was on court against New Zealand’s Nolan
Pillay. Jonathan was too strong for Nolan and managed to
take the game 3-1 11/5 11/4 12/14 11/1.
Brian was back on for his second game of the day against
Englands Jonathan Oster. Both were up for beating each other
and were very competitive. With some really close rallies
and both players playing great shots! Brian took the match
3-1 11/5 9/11 11/5 11/9.
Shane was on for his second match of the day against Wayne
Cloete. Shane fired up for the match, hit some super volley
nicks and fantastic shots, and took his opponent apart
comfortably 3-0 11/4 11/4 11/2.
Last on court for the long day was Matthew Hewitt against
Australia’s number 1, Anthony Stanford. Matthew was more
prepared and up for this game and went out all fired up and
took the first game 11/2. Matthew was cruising through his
game with great pace and fantastic shots took the next two
games 11/6 11/4, winning the match 3-0!
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Day 2
Matt Burnett reports from the England camp
Team Championship
Day 2 has started and England are up against South Africa
this morning. First up was Matthew Hewitt England Number 3
against Johan Niemand. In the warm up, this look like it was
going to be a tough one! Some really fantastic and long
rallies throughout the match, but Matthew held his own game
and won 3-0 11/5 11/7 11/5.
Next on court was the number 1s, Jamie Mathews versus Max
Percival. Jamie looked comfortable throughout the match,
producing great squash and pushing his opponent around the
court, Jamie won the first game 11/1. Keeping his game at a
high pace for the next 2 games, Max worked really hard to
retrieve all of Jamie’s shots, but in the end Jamie managed
to tire his opponent out and take the match 3-0 11/1 11/2
11/2.
Last on for the team matches was the number 2’s and Phil
Thomas had to play Chris Nortier. Chris, who had a good foot
height advantage over him, played very well to pick up some
great shots by Phil, but Phil’s pace and accuracy, was too
good and he took the match 3-0 11/6 11/5 11/6.
Another team match won without dropping a game!
Big game on Thursday against the Australians, who are after
us for that trophy!!
Jamie Matthew v Max Percival 11/1 11/2 11/2. 3-0
Phillip Thomas v Chris Nortier 11/6 11/5 11/6. 3-0
Matthew Hewitt v Johan Niemand 11/5 11/7 11/5. 3-0
Individual Championship
Second afternoon of the Individual Championship got under
with Jamie Mathews going on against Roger Wyril. Roger, who
has not played a lot of squash in, 20 years!! Tried his very
hardest against Jamie, but Jamie’s shots were just too good!
3-0 to Jamie 11/5 11/7 11/8.
Two Englishmen up against each other again, Phil Thomas and
Shane Pletts. Shane had been psyching himself up for this
big game against Phil, England’s number 2. With some great
rallies and excellent shots from both players, even with a
bit of friendly sportsmanship banter, but Phil managed to
get the better of a very hard working Shane Pletts and won
3-0 11/4 11/8/ 11/2.
Next on was Jonathan Oster against Peter Walters of
Australia. A big game for Jonathan, who was after Peter as
the man he wanted to beat! It was always going to be a tough
game, with Peter being a former world deaf champion, but
even with Jonathan picking up a lot of Peter’s shots.
Jonathan was not able to keep the momentum going to beat a
very good Peter Walters.
Unfortunately Jonathan lost 3-0 11/7 11/4 11/5.
Brian Rawlinson was up next against Ben Bruggy of Australia.
This was going to be a closely fought match, and so it was,
with extremely good shots from both players and some very
tough rallies, with a few close encounters on lets! Ben
Bruggy just managed to pip each game. Brian unfortunately
losing 0-3 8/11 11/13 8/11.
Last on for the day was Matthew Hewitt against Chris Nortier!
Chris only playing Englands number 2 hours before, was back
on court against Englands number 3! Matthew playing great
lengths and some wonderful drop shots, making Chris work
very hard for the points, Matthew came out on top, beating
Chris Nortier by 3-0 11/4 11/3 11/9.
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On the
way ...
Matt Burnett reports from the England camp
Flying out to Sydney at 10pm tonight for the World Deaf
Championships with the team. We arrive in Bangkok for a
quick stop over and get a quick blast of the 33 degree heat!
Too warm for us!
Back on the plane and on to our next stop Sydney, all goes
really well to now…Phil is seen to by a doctor on the plane,
because of his vein coming up in a big lump! Thankfully he
was all ok! Then the plane lands half hour late and 6 of us
weren’t given our boarding passes for next flight! Trying to
get our boarding passes, we get stuck at security in a huge
queue!
We only have 30 minutes left to get through security, get
our boarding passes and get to the gate…no chance! Jamie and
Phil make it on to flight, with their boarding passes, the
other 6 of us miss our flight at 7.45am.
We are booked onto next flight to Wellington at 5.45pm. So
we are in for a long stay at Sydney airport, only bonus is
that we get $15 food passes!
Day 1:
Team Championship
The first day of the World Deaf Championships in New Zealand
got under way today, with all our England players in action.
In the morning we had the first round of team matches.
England were up against New Zealand first with our number 2,
Phil Thomas going on first against Wayne Cloete. Phil
looking very comfortable throughout the game, making his
opponent work hard and playing some great shots, took the
match 3-0, 11/1 11/3 11/2.
Number 3’s were on next and Matthew Hewitt had to face Roger
Wyril. Matthew had been preparing well for this tournament
and it showed on the court, fantastic shots and great
pressure on his opponent, Matthew cruised to a 3-0 victory
11/1 11/0 11/1.
Jamie Matthew, England’s Number 1 was up against Angus
McDonald. In a very closely fought match, with great
sportsmanship and great humour! Jamie and Angus both playing
great squash, but Jamie just managed to edge each game and
take the match 3-0 11/9 12/10 12/10.
England’s Mens team gets off to a flying start and hopefully
carry these performances on for the matches against South
Africa and the strong Australian team.
Jamie Matthew v Angus McDonald
11/9 12/10 12/10 3-0
Phillip Thomas v Wayne Cloete 11/1 11/3 11/2 3-0
Matthew Hewitt v Roger Wyril 11/1 11/0 11/1 3-0
Individual Championship
In the afternoon, the Individual World Deaf Championships
got under way. With Jamie Matthews Seeded 1 and Phil Thomas
Seeded 2, both had byes through to the next round.
First match on was England’s Simon Jones against Max
Percival from South Africa. A very tough match on paper for
Simon, but with long rallies and fantastic squash from both
players, Max managed to win the match 3-0 11/6 11/1 11/4.
Next up was Matthew Hewitt and Jonathan Cota, both England
players, there was a bit of friendly rivalry in the air
between the two. Matthew took the first game 11/1 but
Jonathan woke up and picked his game up and started to fight
hard in the next two games, but Matthew also stepped his
game up, with brilliant rallies and excellent shots, Matthew
won 3-0 11/1 11/6 11/8.
Shane Pletts was on court next against South Africa Chris
Nolan. This was going to be a great match, will both players
very evenly matched. As predicted a very tight match with
Shane winning the first game 12/10, but again in the second
game fast and furious rallies with some great shots, but
this time it was Chris to take the game 11/9. Points and
rallies going back and fore between each player with some
exceptional shots from both players over the next 3 games,
but in the end Shane just lost 2-3. 12/10 9/11 12/14 12/10
2/11.
Brian Rawlinson was last on of the England matches and was
playing Roger Wyril. Brian had the match under full control
and looking very comfortable, forcing his opponent to make
too many mistakes and taking the win 3-0. 11/2 11/7 11/2.
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