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30-Nov, Day TWO:
Qualifying Finals - three for HK
The second day of
qualifying at Hong Kong Football Club saw the last sixteen
places in the main draws decided, and it was a good day for the
hosts as three out of the four Hong Kong players were
victorious.
 "I
would be happy if one or two made it through to the main draw,"
said HK Head Coach Tony Choi at the start of the day, so
he was delighted with the results of Vanessa Chu, Ho
Tze Lok and Yip Tsz Fung.
Chu started the ball rolling with a straight-game win over Milou
van der Heijden, Ho had a great result in beating Misaki
Kobayashi in three, and Yip completed the trio with a three-nil
win over Mahesh Mangaonkar.
 "I'm
so happy," said Chu, "today I played my shots so well and felt
really comfortable on court, I didn't feel any pressure. It's
the first time I made the draw in five attempts so I hope I can
play well again."
Ho has fallen in qualifying in each of the last seven years, so
was delighted with her upset win.
 "I
didn't expect that," she said, "I knew she was a top seed so I
was just trying my best. At 10-6 in the third I just told myself
'one more point', but it took a few rallies for it to come!"
Yip was delighted with his first main draw appearance: "I'd
beaten Mahesh before so I knew I could do it, but it's still a
relief to make it through for the first time."
 Elsewhere
in the men's there were hard fought wins for Finland's Olli
Tuominen who came from one-two down to deny Eddie Charlton,
while Declan James provided England's only success with a
marathon 100-minute five game win over Ivan Yuen.
 "I
had to motivate myself to increase the pace, he was slowing it
down well," said Tuominen, who has been struggling with injuries
of late. "It's nice to be able to play pain free, it's been a
while, and nice to be in the main draw here again.
There were some particularly tough women's matches -
Siyoli Waters had to come from two games down to deny Chloe
Mesic, Megan Craig survived a torrid five-setter with
Nouran El Torky, Christine Nunn was at two games all with
Menna Nasser when the Egyptian injured her ankle and had to
concede in the fifth, and Coline Aumard sneaked through
with 13/11 in the last two games against Deon Saffery.
 "She
got a better start than me, but I was happy I managed to get it
back and to finish playing how I wanted," said Waters.
 Aumard
was grateful for her coach's advice: "I wasn't very confident
with my game, but Philippe [Signoret] kept telling me I could do
it, which was just what I needed."
Round One
begins at Hong Kong Squash Centre tomorrow, starting at 13.30
with the top half of the draws.
PHOTO GALLERIES
|
HK crew happy
Today's Results
Welcome from the Chairman
winning and losing
Double French success
Happy Birthday Lily! |
