|
|
 Hyder
Trophy 2006
18-21 May, New York
The longest continually-running 'softball' tournament in the
USA, the Hyder Trophy started in 1969 and the 2006 edition takes
place at the Eastern Athletic Club and Heights Casino Annex ... |
22- May, Final:
Shahier Razik bt Graham Ryding
8/11, 8/11, 11/7, 11/8, 11/5 |
Razik's Repeats Ryding Success
Zoë Brunson reports
 The
crowd were entertained by a gripping five game match between
defending champion Graham Ryding, and newly crowned
Canadian champion Shahier Razik.
In the first two games Ryding took the ball early, applying
pressure in each rally leaving Razik to play a more defensive
game in order to keep the rallies going. In the break between
the second and third game Razik overheard a comment from the
crowd that the match would be over soon as the score was 2-0, to
which he responded "There's still another three games to play".
And that's just what happened. Playing point for point during
the third game, the players weren't happy with some of the
referee's calls with Razik making the comment "At least you're
consistent, consistently bad".
At 7-7, Razik took the next four points to win the game. The
momentum was with Razik as he started well in the fourth and
took the early lead. Ryding dug deep and the crowd were
enthralled by the creative shot making, drop shot exchanges and
complete court coverage of both players. However, he could never
quite make up the difference and Razik took the game 11-8, much
to the crowd's delight that the match was going to the fifth
game.
Once again the game started point for point when a "No Let"
decision was given to Ryding for "lack of effort". "What do you
mean lack of effort, we've been playing for over an hour how can
I not be making an effort," was Ryding's response. But this
ended up being the final turn of the tide as the younger Razik
had a little more gas left in the tank and took the final game
11-5.
|
 |
21- May, Semis:
Graham Ryding bt Patrick
Chifunda 11/6, 11/8, 11/9
Shahier Razik bt Christopher Walker 11/4, 11/6, 11/8 |
Zoë Brunson reports
After
a full day of amateur play, the pros took to the court at
Eastern Athletic Club and put on quite a show for the large
crowd.
Today's final will be a rematch of last year's final, as Ryding
and Razik were just too strong for their opponents last night.
In both matches the underdogs gave it their all, chasing down
balls around the court, but in the end the accuracy of Razik and
Ryding's shots was just too precise.
Sorry it's not more, but I didn't get to see a lot of the
matches!
|
DRAW
&
RESULTS
 |
19-May, Quarters:
Graham Ryding bt Clive Leach
11/5, 11/7, 11/7
Chris Walker bt Karim Yehia
10/11, 11/10, 11/10, 11/8
Patrick Chifunda bt Ahmed Hamza
9/11 11/7 11/9 8/11 11/8
Shahier Razik bt John Russell
11/10, 11/5, 11/10 |
Zoë Brunson reports
Top seeds Graham Ryding and Shahier Razik had straightforward 3-0
wins over Kamel and Ferreira for their first round matches, then it
was on to the quarter-finals ...
The rain in New York was causing chaos with traffic, causing
Chris Walker to delay the start of his match against Karim
Yehia. But the wait was well worth it as the two played some
exception squash fully testing each other round all four corners of
the court. With three of the four games going to a tiebreak, Yehia
gained the edge in the first game, but Walker prevailed in the other
two and took the match 10-11 (0-2), 11-10(2-0), 11-10(2-0), 11-8.
Patrick Chifunda and Ahmed Hamza were next up and in
their previous three meetings the match had gone to 5 with Hamza
coming out on top. Tonight's match also went the full distance, and
was very closely contested, but this time it was Chifunda's time to
claim victory 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8.
Graham Ryding and Clive Leach took to the court at the
same time as Shahier Razik and John Russell. Ryding
had the easier time beating Leach 11-5, 11-7, 11-7. Some confusion
about the scoring in the Razik and Russell saw both players leave
the court after the first game thinking Russell had won, and one of
Russell's student congratulating him. But the error was quickly
realised and the players were called back on court with the Shahier
finally taking the first game. Russell showed some fatigue in the
second game, a result of his efforts in the first game, however in
the third he dug deep to push the game to another tiebreak. However,
Shahier, as Canada's new national champion, had the upper hand and
won the match 11-10 (5-3), 11-5, 11-10 (2-0).
Zoë Brunson |
Program and Details
2005 Finalists
|
About The Hyder Trophy
The Hyder Trophy holds the prestigious title of being the
longest continually running softball squash tournament in
North America.
Started by Dr. Quentin Hyder in 1969, the tournament
was first played on hardball courts by a number of expats
living in New York and Toronto.
In 1972 the tournament was opened to professionals and in
1976 the tournament was moved onto softball courts as they
started to open in New York.
More
details |
|
18-May, First Round:
Zoë Brunson reports
 With the
last minute withdrawal of Ben Howell, Mike Weston and Mike
Ferreira moved into the first round of the Men’s Open draw. Six
of the eight first round matches were played at the Harvard Club
Thursday night with only one match going the full distance.
 Harvard club head pro, Richard Chin took to the courts with
John Russell, who now coaches out of New York Athletic Club.
Russell showed that he can still move around the court retrieving
the ball when put under pressure. His deft hands were exceptional as
he displayed his shot making skills and took the match
11-6, 11-9, 11-5.
 Clive Leach, also based out of New York Athletic Club, had an
easy match against Ahmed Fadi winning 11-0, 11-3, 11-3. Leach
kept the pressure on and moved the ball around the court with his
low hard hitting, leaving Fadi to continually retrieve and playing
several loose balls, which Leach took full advantage of.
 Mike Weston, arriving late and dripping wet from the
torrential rain going through Manhattan, had a slow start against
Karim Yehia. With the first game being more of a a warm-up game
for both players Weston started playing better shots in the second
game and held game ball against Yehia. But Yehia had the edge on
fitness and went on to win the match 11-4, 11-10(3-1), 11-2.
 Jamie Crombie and Patrick Chifunda was the marathon
match of the evening and will probably be one that Crombie has bad
dreams about. Leading 2-0, and 10-5, Crombie and the crowd thought
the match was his.
 Chifunda hadn’t read the same book though, and he
dug in to take the next seven points and win the game 12-10. With a
little fist punch from Chifunda as Crombie’s shot hit the tin, the
tide had turned and Chifunda rode the momentum out to take the next two
games, winning the match 4-11, 6-11, 11-10(2-0), 11-3, 11-6.
Ahmed Hamza and Frances ‘Friday’ Odeh took to the
court after Chifunda and Crombie, with Odeh entertaining the crowd
with his creative shots. But his shot making was not enough to carry
the day against the fitness and accuracy of Hamza who won the match
11-9, 11-7, 11-7.
 Last match on was Chris Walker and David Heath, and
the full crowd was not disappointed with the match. Despite slow
starts in each of the first two games Heath put his heart and soul
into the match. But Walker’s featherlike drops and sheer athleticism
and agility on the court were too good and following one long rally
around the four corners of the court Heath threw his racket after
the ball as a last ditch attempt to return the ball.
 As Heath
reached game ball, the crowd were willing him to win the next point
so they could see more great squash. At the end of the next rally Heath
hit the ball out and Walker went on to get match ball. Heath saved four match balls before hitting a return of serve out
on the fifth, giving the match to Walker
11-6, 11-7, 11-10(7-5).
The remaining two matches (Graham Ryding vs Yasser Kamel and
Shahier Razik vs. Mike Ferreira) will take place on Friday
afternoon at the recently refurbished Eastern Athletic Club in
Brooklyn Heights with the quarter-finals being played on Friday
evening.
MSRA President & Tournament Director |
DRAW & RESULTS
|
About The Hyder Trophy
The Hyder Trophy holds the prestigious title of being the longest
continually running softball squash tournament in North America.
Started by Dr. Quentin Hyder in 1969, the tournament was
first played on hardball courts by a number of expats living in New
York and Toronto. In 1972 the tournament was opened to professionals
and in 1976 the tournament was moved onto softball courts as they
started to open in New York.
With the Metropolitan Squash Rackets Association (MSRA) taking over
the running of the event for Dr. Hyder, the tournament became the
MSRA’s season ending event and has attracted a variety of past and
present pros that do battle for the Hyder Trophy title.
Over the
tournament’s 37 year history, past champions have represented many
of the squash playing nations around the world, including England,
Canada, Pakistan, India, Australia, Scotland and Ireland. Notable
winners include Angus Kirkland (now a partner of the
successful Eventis team), Martin Heath (now head coach at
Rochester University), Derek Ryan (former Irish number 1),
Damian Mudge (number one ranked American doubles team with Gary
Waite), Ned Edwards (former hard ball national champion) and
Mo Khan (former British and North American champion).
Richard Chin, head pro at the Harvard Club of New York, was the
last American to win the event in 1996.
Former world number one, Jonathan Power won the title in
1998, and has since been joined on the champions table by fellow
Canadian teammates Graham Ryding and Shahier Razik.
Ryding and Razik took to the court in last year’s final and are
seeded to meet again in this year’s final on Sunday.
In addition to the Men’s Open draw of 18, the Hyder Trophy hosts a
number of skill level amateur draws for men and women where over 130
players will do battle over the weekend in Brooklyn Heights. In a
brave move by the MSRA, the event has crossed the East River and
will be hosted by Eastern Athletic Club and Heights Casino
Annex. With four brand new international courts at Eastern
Athletic Club and another four international courts at Heights
Casino Annex, all matches will take place within a couple of blocks
of each other.
|
Dr Hyder
The Locations |
|
Hyder Trophy - previous winners |
2006 Entrants |
Hyder Trophy 2006
Eastern Athletic Club - Brooklyn - USA |
Round One
May
20 |
Quarters
May 20 |
Semis
May 21 |
Final
May 22 |
[1]
Graham Ryding
Yasser Kamel |
Graham Ryding
11/5, 11/7, 11/7
Clive Leach |
Graham Ryding
11/6, 11/8, 11/9
Patrick Chifunda
|
Graham Ryding
8/11, 8/11, 11/7, 11/8, 11/5
Shahier Razik |
Ahmed Fadi
Clive Leach |
Patrick
Chifunda
Jamie Crombie |
Patrick Chifunda
9/11, 11/7, 11/9, 8/11, 11/8
Ahmed Hamza |
Frances
Odeh
[4] Ahmed Hamza |
[3]
Chris Walker
David Heath |
Chris Walker
10/11, 11/10, 11/10, 11/8
Karim Hehia |
Chris Walker
11/4, 11/6,11/8
Shahier Razik |
Michael
Weston
Karim Hehia |
John Russel
Richard Chin |
John Russel
11/10, 11/5, 11/10
Shahier Razik |
Michael
Ferreira
[2] Shahier Razik |
|
