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Reporting for
Duty |
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 In the last month of 2004 there were
four major squash events in Qatar, Pakistan, Malaysia and India and
we brought you first-hand news from all of these tournaments.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing, and there are a few
behind-the-scenes stories to be told about the reports that you got
to read …
Steve
Cubbins on how the news got on the air ... |
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 Mad panic in Qatar
Communications with Qatar have traditionally been difficult, with
limited phone access for the reporters and photographers, so the
fact that our main man in Doha for the
Qatar World Open was Malcolm
Willstrop, whose preferred method of transmission is Fax, was
probably a blessing (and I’m well used to his handwriting by now).
For the later rounds there was a scoreboard, but it was a little
unreliable. I’ll leave you to imagine Framboise’s reaction when
“unable to connect” came up when Thierry was at 10-all in the fifth
against Graham Ryding in the semi-final!
Fortunately I’d already taken the precaution of asking James
to text us the result of that last game, so when “12-10 Lincou, very
tight, really tense” arrived on my Nokia all was well ... and the
scoreboard worked fine for the final.
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Broadband in Islamabad
 When Framboise
arrived in Islamabad to find broadband
connections at the venue and at the hotel it looked like reporting
from the
Pakistan Open would be plain sailing.
Well, for the most part yes, but there were a couple of hiccups …
After the first round the hotel connection went down, so we were
stuck. No printer, so Fax wasn’t an option. So the solution was for
Framboise to dictate her reports to me and for me to type them in.
At that speed my handwriting is a lot harder to read than Malcolm’s,
I can tell you.
There I was, about 80% through typing the reports, and …. yes, you
guessed it. “Stop typing” was the subject line on the email – the
connection was back!
All then went well until … the final. Down again. This time we used
a comparatively hi-tech method – Framboise dictated her report onto
my answering machine and retired to bed.
Unfortunately my answering machine is digital. There’s no pause,
rewind, fast, slow buttons. You play it from the start and listen.
That’s it. Believe me, I’ll be able to recite the first
few
paragraphs of that (excellent) report for years to come.
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 On the Streets in KL
More broadband at the National Squash Centre in Kuala Lumpur. With
Alex Wan and Fritz Borchert onsite for the
KL Women’s World Open this
one would be a doddle, surely …
And so it proved until … yes, you guessed it … the final!
SMS text messaging is a wonderful thing. Alex was keeping me (and
you) informed of the results as they happened, so that wasn’t a
problem. After a couple of hours I was getting a bit concerned about
the whereabouts of the report and photos, so texted back. It turned
out that the press were kicked out of the venue shortly after the
final.
Fritz managed to find a line from the hotel, but Alex was reporting
connection difficulties from home. With a heavy heart, I told him
what we’d done from Pakistan. “I won’t do that to you,” he replied
[thank heavens] “I’ll find somewhere.”
Well, after a couple of hours traipsing the streets of Kuala Lumpur,
trying to find an internet café that was a) open and b) not packed
out with kids playing games, Alex finally got connected and zapped
off the report. Phew.
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Chennai Chutzpah
 Two world championships plus the second richest tournament of the
year down, just one to go – the World
Doubles in Chennai.
Linda Davie was there principally as a referee, but we were
quietly confident of more than that.
”Can’t get internet connection” was the first text, and that set the
scene for the tournament. The occasional email got through, and a
couple of reports were dictated over the phone, but the main method
of getting the news from Chennai was SMS.
Virtually all the “Chennai Chat” items came in this way, and the
report on the final was reconstructed from a couple of dozen texts
sent during play. Of course, it wasn’t so bad if you were there –
Linda (by now confined to her hotel bed with some undetermined
illness and a boatload of medication)
was able to transmit
proceedings by watching the matches live on Indian TV!
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All above
and beyond the call of duty, if you ask me.
Well done Malcolm, James, Framboise, Fritz, Alex and Linda.
Reporting for duty … not half!
Steve Cubbins
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