Khan collects at the Cumberland
In the tournament which was notable for the return to competitive action
of eight-time world champion Jansher Khan, it was a Khan who claimed the
inaugural London Open title at the Cumberland Club. Not the legend
though, but rather Majid Khan, who came through qualifying,
despatched top seed Bradley Ball in the first round, Jansher's
conqueror Scott Handley in the semi-finals, and finished it off with a
five game win over a third English opponent, Alex Stait, in the final.
In the women's final top seed Dominique Lloyd-Walter maintained
her 100% record in finals as she claimed her fourth career title with a
five-game win over France's European Junior Champion Camille Serme.
Majid Makes It Into London Final
Exactly seven years after first becoming a PSA member, Pakistan's
Majid Khan is celebrating his maiden appearance in a Tour
event final after upsetting England's Scott Handley in the semi-finals
of the Anscombe & Ringland London Open at the Cumberland Club in London.
The 23-year-old qualifier from Peshawar fought back from two games down
to beat Handley - the third seed from Oxfordshire who defeated Pakistan
squash legend Jansher Khan in his comeback appearance in the first
round.
Kahn now faces unseeded Englishman Alex Stait, the
Manchester-based 27-year-old from Gloucestershire who recovered from a
game behind to beat South African Jesse Engelbrecht to reach his eighth
PSA final.
The
women's event also produced a remarkable upset when France's unseeded
Camille Serme recovered from losing two games for just one point,
coming back to beat England's No2 seed Becky Botwright in five.
In her second appearance in a WISPA final, the European Junior champion
from Creteil now faces her third successive English opponent in a
showdown with top seed Dominique Lloyd-Walter.
The 26-year-old from Harrow - who boasts a 100% success rate in the
three WISPA finals in which she has competed so far - despatched
Pakistan's Carla Khan in the other semi-final.
12-Oct, Quarters:
Scott soldiers on in London Open
England's
Scott Handley continued to make progress in the Anscombe &
Ringland London Open after his triumph over squash legend Jansher Khan
in the first round of the inaugural event at the Cumberland Club in
London. The third seed from Oxfordshire battled for five games to
overcome France's No7 seed Mathieu Castagnet.
Handley will now face a second Khan from Pakistan - qualifier Majid
Khan, who continued his giant-killing run in the event by beating
sixth-seeded Dutchman Tom Hoevenaars. The 23-year-old from Peshawar
upset top seed Bradley Ball in the first round.
A
Khan also made waves in the women's event when Carla Khan -
grand-daughter of the great Azam Khan - upset England's third seed Sarah
Kippax.
The 26-year-old UK-based Pakistani will now face top-seeded Englishwoman
Dominique Lloyd-Walter, who beat India's No5 seed Joshna Chinappa
.
It was one of the most anticipated returns to the court for years, and
for a while it looked promising for the eight-time world champion as he
took the first game against Scott Handley.
Khan came from 7/5 down to take that first game, showing signs of the
old skills and shotplay, but lost the second as
the Englishman overcame his nerves, started to put the ball in the hard
places and pulled away from 6-all. It was the same story in
the third - Handley led 6/5 and with Khan beginning to look tired and
going for early winners, the
lead soon became 10/5, then 11/6.
From the outset of the fourth it was clear that Khan was - for this
match at least - a spent force
as Handley progressed to the quarter-finals with Jansher barely
contesting the rallies. In the packed crowd that
witnessed the match, all said it was a pleasure to watch a living legend
even if he lost the 3-minute fourth game 11-0.
The number 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8 seeds followed Jansher out in the first
round as Majid Khan and John Rooney ousted the top two seeds.
No such carnage in the ladies as all but fourth seed Tenille Swartz made
it through to the quarters, the South African falling to France's
European Junior Champion Camille Serme.
Before the match
"I
love the game, that's why I'm playing. I have nothing to prove any more,
I don't need to win as I've won everything in the world.
"I'll try to get wildcards from tournament organisers, if I can do that
it will help me a lot to get back.
"I don't expect to win every tournament, if I give a good account of
myself I'll carry on ..."
After the match
"I am very happy with the way I played, but three weeks is not enough
training, I need two or three months."
Anscombe
& Ringland London
Open 2007
09-14 Oct, Cumberland
Club, $12k
Jesse Engelbrecht
10/12, 11/8, 11/8, 11/7 Ben Ford
Jesse Engelbrecht
7/11, 11/3, 11/3, 13/11
Alex Stait
[Q] Ben Ford (Eng)
9/11, 11/8, 11/9, 17/15
[4] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind)
Alex Stait
(Eng)
11/7, 11/6, 14/12
[5] Adil Maqbool (Pak)
Alex Stait
11/6, 11/6, 12/10 John Rooney
John Rooney (Irl)
11/5, 11/5, 11/6
[2] Shahid Zaman (Pak)
Qualifying:
Finals, 10-Oct: Majid Khan (Pak) bt
Jason Barry (Rsa)
11/9, 11/7, 11/3
Tom Pashley (Eng) bt Philip Nightingale (Eng)
11/5, 11/9, 11/2
Joe Lee (Eng) bt Neil Hitchens (Eng)
11/5, 11/5, 11/7
Ben Ford (Eng) bt Adrian Waller (Eng)
11/4, 11/8, 11/8
Round One, 09-Oct: Majid Khan (Pak) bt Rory Pennell (Eng)
11/6, 11/4, 11/2
Jason Barry (Rsa) bt Chris Tasker-Grindley (Eng) 11/4,
11/7, 11/6
Philip Nightingale (Eng) bt Ryan Thompson (Nam) 11/9,
11/8, 11/9
Tom Pashley (Eng) bt Obaid Jahan (Pak)
11/9, 11/7, 11/7
Joe Lee (Eng) bt Issa Kamara (Eng)
12/10, 11/7, 11/1
Neil Hitchens (Eng) bt Alex Ingham (Eng)
5/11, 11/6, 11/9, 8/11, 11/3
Adrian Waller (Eng) bt Rene Mijs (Ned)
11/6, 11/9, 15/13
Ben Ford (Eng) bt Adam Fuller (Eng)
11/3, 11/5, 11/4
10-Oct, Qualifying:
Stage set for Jansher in London
Qualifying is complete in the Anscombe & Ringland London Open, the
tournament where Pakistan squash legend Jansher Khan makes his
comeback and seeks his 100th PSA title at the age of 38.
English players dominated the qualifying competition, with Tom Pashley,
Joe Lee and Ben Ford making the men's main draw, while Victoria Lust and
Rachel Willmott reached the women's.
Although
there are sixteen matches to play in the first round, interest will
centre on the clash between Jansher and England's Scott Handley,
the world number 54 who has concentrated more on family life than the
world tour.
Handley, 32, has watched Jansher at several tournaments but has never
been on court with the eight-time world champion, and he aims to make it
tough for the player who dominated the sport in the late 90s -
"Hopefully he will not have been in the sort of pain that I am going to
cause him for a long time ..."
YouTube video from Zee Shan
Home interest
boosted in
inaugural London Open
Domestic interest will be boosted by a further five English
players who came through the qualifying finals at the Cumberland Club in
London.
Tom Pashley, Joe Lee and Ben Ford overcame compatriots Philip
Nightingale, Neil Hitchens and Adrian Waller, respectively, to earn
places in the main draw of the 1-star men's event. Pashley, 19, from
Sussex, will face Dutchman Tom Hoevenaars, the No6 seed, while Lee, the
18-year-old from Surrey who was runner-up in the European Junior
Championships this year, will take on France's seventh seed Mathieu
Castagnet. Ford, 32, from Welling in Kent, earns a clash with India's
fourth seed Ritwik Bhattacharya.
In the women's event, 2006 British Junior National champion Rachel
Willmott, from Sussex, despatched Pakistan's Anna Batool Kardar and will
now meet Joshna Chinappa, the fifth seed from India.
Willmott's successor, the reigning British Junior champion Victoria
Lust, from Bedfordshire, beat compatriot Carrie Hastings and will now
face top-seeded English woman Dominique Lloyd-Walter, the world No19
from Harrow.
Champion Jansher in
London Comeback Jansher
Khan, one of the greatest squash players of all-time, will make his
first appearance in London since winning the last of his 99 PSA Tour
titles in the city in 1998 when he competes in the inaugural Anscombe &
Ringland London Open at the Cumberland Club.
The 38-year-old from Peshawar in Pakistan retired shortly after losing
the British Open final in Birmingham in April 1998 - a month after
winning his fourth Super Series Finals title in London.
Following in the footsteps of his illustrious, but unrelated, compatriot
Jahangir Khan, Jansher enjoyed a distinguished career in the sport.
After winning the World Junior Championship title in 1986, he went on to
collect a host of PSA Tour titles, including six British Open trophies
and a record eight World Open crowns.
Handed a wild card by event promoter Zubair Jahan Khan - the former
world No9 now coaching at Cumberland - Jansher will face Englishman
Scott Handley, the third seed from Oxfordshire, in the first round of
the 1-star London Open on Thursday 11 October.
Should Khan progress through to the final on Sunday 14 October - and win
the event - the success would mark his 100th Tour title.
The
women's event also produced a remarkable upset when France's unseeded
Camille Serme recovered from losing two games for just one point,
coming back to beat England's No2 seed Becky Botwright in five.
England's
Scott Handley continued to make progress in the Anscombe &
Ringland London Open after his triumph over squash legend Jansher Khan
in the first round of the inaugural event at the Cumberland Club in
London. The third seed from Oxfordshire battled for five games to
overcome France's No7 seed Mathieu Castagnet. 
A
Khan also made waves in the women's event when Carla Khan -
grand-daughter of the great Azam Khan - upset England's third seed Sarah
Kippax. 
"I
love the game, that's why I'm playing. I have nothing to prove any more,
I don't need to win as I've won everything in the world.
Although
there are sixteen matches to play in the first round, interest will
centre on the clash between Jansher and England's Scott Handley,
the world number 54 who has concentrated more on family life than the
world tour.
Jansher
Khan, one of the greatest squash players of all-time, will make his
first appearance in London since winning the last of his 99 PSA Tour
titles in the city in 1998 when he competes in the inaugural Anscombe &
Ringland London Open at the Cumberland Club.