Mon 25-Aug, Day TWO:
Egyptians impress in Qualifying Finals
Qualifying finals day,
and with sixteen places in one of the most prestigious and most
valuable tournaments on the circuit, there were precious few
easy matches in store at Hong Kong Squash Centre.
Overall it was a good day for the Egyptian contingent as they
took three places in each of the draws, but not such a good one
for the hosts as all five Hong Kong players bowed out.
 The
first match of the day produced the biggest upset as young
Mexican Alfredo Avila toppled men’s top seed Tom Richards
in four games. Avila went two up, but the Englishman fought back
to take the third, and saved four match balls in the fourth
before succumbing 13/11.
“I tried to play hard and fast but he was getting better as
the match went on,” said Avila, “so I needed to win the fourth
as a fifth would have been very tough to win. I’m so happy to
qualify,” said Alfredo, “it’s the first time I ever made the
main draw of a tournament this big.”
 Avila’s
reward is a match against Marwan Elshorbagy tomorrow. Double
Mexican success came later as Samantha Teran made it
through to the women’s main draw.
 The
Egyptian men’s successes were all hard won - Zahed Mohamed
took lust short of an hour to see off Steve Finitsis, and in the
last two matches of the day Mohamed Abouelghar let a
two-game lead slip before beating Rafael Kandra in the fifth
while Fares Dessouki came from a game down and from
behind in the fourth to beat Eddie Charlton.
 The
only Egyptian not to make it through was Omar Abdel Aziz, beaten
by Australia’s Rex Hedrick whose 3-2 win was, once again,
the longest of the day.
“It was a bit frantic at the start,” admitted Hedrick, “so I
tried to slow the pace down and that helped me so it wasn’t too
demanding physically. I’ve played a lot of smaller events in HK
but this is the first time I’ve played in this so it’s pretty
good to get through!"
There’s no rest for Rex though as he takes on Simon Rosner
tomorrow.
 Mariam
Metwally, Salma Hany and Kanzy El Dafrawy were
the Egyptian winners on the women’s side, Kanzy beating Amanda
Landers-Murphy 3-1 in the longest women’s match of the day.
“I still haven’t fully recovered from the trip here, but I
found my pace and managed to control the ball well, she said, “I
had to be more patient than I usually am. I’mso happy to qualify
for such a big tournament, that’s always the aim.”
 Another
absentee from the recent bigger main draws, Milou van der
Heijden took full advantage of getting into HK - she was
first reserve in the recently concluded Malaysian Open - as she
beat Zulhijah Binti Azan to earn a match against HK’s Joey Chan
tomorrow.
“I’m very happy,” said the Dutchwoman. “It’s my first time in
HK since the World Juniors. It would hve been nice to get a shot
at Nicol but any match in the main draw has to be good.”
 The
shortest match of the day also had the biggest age gap as
Latasha Khan took on local 13-year-old Tin Yan Lau. It was a
comfortable enough win for the USA veteran, who could hardly
stop smiling throughout. “She’s just so cute!” admitted
Latasha.
The draw threw up three ‘local derbies’ - Delia Arnold v Nicol
David, Laura Pomportes v Camille Serme, and Metwally v Nour El
Tayeb, finalist last weekend in Malaysia.
Men's Qualifying Finals:
updated main draw
Alfredo Avila (Mex) 3-1 Tom Richards (Eng)
11/7, 11/5, 6/11,
15/13 (51m)
Zahed Mohamed (Egy) 3-1 Steve Finitsis (Aus)
11/8, 11/4,
5/11, 11/5 (54m)
Rex Hedrick (Aus) 3-2 Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy)
8/11, 11/4, 11/5,
6/11, 11/4 (79m)
Henrik Mustonen (Fin) 3-0 Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind)
11/9, 12/10,
11/8 (43m)
Nafiizwan Adnan (Mas) 3-1 Matthew Karwalski (Aus)
11/7, 10/12, 11/3,
14/12 (45m)
Shaun le Roux (Rsa) 3-1 Leo Au (Hkg)
11/8, 11/4,
8/11, 11/6 (63m)
Mohamed Abouelghar (Egy) 3-2 Raphael Kandra (Ger)
11/6,
11/9, 8/11, 6/11, 11/5 (54m)
Fares Dessouki (Egy) 3-1 Eddie Charlton (Eng)
3/11, 11/9, 11/6, 13/11 (67m)
Lots
more photos in the Gallery
Women's Qualifying Finals:
updated main draw
Kanzy El Dafrawy (Egy) 3-1 Amanda Landers-Murphy (Nzl)
11/7, 9/11, 11/5, 11/9
(51m)
Milou van der Heijden (Ned) 3-1 Zulhijjah Binti
Azan (Mas)
12/10, 11/6, 6/11, 11/9
(42m)
Delia Arnold (Mas) 3-0 Elise Ng (Hkg)
11/5, 11/6, 11/8 (19m)
Mariam Metwally (Egy) 3-0 Liu Tsz-Ling (Hkg)
12/10, 11/9, 11/4 (34m)
Samantha Teran (Mex) 3-0 Ho Tze-Lok (Hkg)
11/8, 11/7, 11/7 (29m)
Latasha Khan (Usa) 3-0 Tin Yan Lau (Hkg)
11/2, 11/2, 11/5 (19m)
Laura Pomportes (Fra) 3-2 Li Dongjin (Chn)
8/11, 11/2, 8/11, 11/6,
11/3 (42m)
Salma Hany Ibrahim (Egy) 3-0 Belen Etchechoury (Arg)
11/6, 11/3, 11/6
(20m)
Play gets
under way in the top half of both draws
from 13.30 tomorrow, on two courts.
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Zahed throgh
Mustonen beats Mahesh
Relieved French contingent
The Shorbagys are here
Volunteers at the ready
Happy Egyptians - as usual
9-time champ arrives
no joy for HK today
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