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 Doha En
Bref, Edition #4
Everything you never knew you needed to know
about the Qatar Classic |
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Couple on Tour :
Jonathan & Jacklyn |
HELPFUL
ALA...
 In
every tournament, you have a "main man", who can either make
your life a living hell by making it as difficult as
possible - they will recognise themselves - or they can help you
in any way they can to allow you to function hence work in
optimum conditions.
Needless to say that Alaaeldeen Allouba is in the latter
category. From finding you a notebook because yours has just run
out, providing you with his own tea mug because it's so late the
catering people have closed the kitchen, arranging your change
transaction, printing all the PSA/WISPA infos, to making sure
you have a nice seat to put your butt in, getting you the right
flight at the right time, Ala is just an endless source of help.
He is so shy too, trying to take a picture of him is not easy,
you've got to really chase him to make sure you get at least one
decent one!
 And
he loves his squash, he loves the players. A great friend of
Nour El Tayeb's father for years, he made sure that he got a
text ready during her quarter, with the score already written up
to the last game, 11/8, 7/11, 11/9, 11/, hoping for his friend's
sake that his daughter would win.
And as she did, he just added the figure 8 at the end, and
pressed sent.
And of course, when the proud dad came to see Nour play in the
semi against Nicol, Ala made sure he had one of the best seats
in the house.... Like I said, a good friend to have in your
corner.
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REFS POSITION
I have often noticed how variable a referee's decision can be
depending where you are in the stand.
As I normally stand on the very left side of the court, I
realised that, 9 times out of 10, I will agree with the one I'm
in general not too far away from, on that left side.
And sometimes, that decision is the complete opposite of the
one on the other side....
Is that a good thing, you think? That we put refs at different
positions? Or do you think it would be better to put those three
in the middle?
I'm for the three different positions, but I was speaking with a
top Ref recently, and he would rather have everybody in the
middle.
What do YOU think.... |
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They said :
James, after a let was awarded
to Shabana :
James : Let??? How did you figure that one out... He
could have hit the ball?? How??? With a taxi???
Peter, in his match against Greg, after being penalised with
a stroke :
Peter : Well, this willl create a precedent... |
SARAH IT
SPECIALIST...
 Sarah Algosaibi,
daughter of Hisham, our tournament director who
unfortunately couldn't attend this edition as he had to rush to
London to see to his elderly mother, may have found herself her
new career as Robert Edwards' IT assistant.
It would appear that the little girl has twice sorted computer
troubles that none of the adults surrounding Robert at the time
were able to solve.
Starting with a "give me all the facts," to "leave it with me,"
Sarah just wizarded her way into the machine, and sorted it out,
with the simple "done".
Robert asked her if she was available to travel.
"I'll have to ask Dad", she politely answered...
Frightening, isn't it...
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They said :
As the voice of
Joey Barrington, commentator for PSATV could suddenly be
heard very loudly all over the venue for a short moment:
Joey : This was a long and testing rally...
James : Oh really, you think??? |
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DESIGNER CLOTHES
Mate, if you have it, flaunt it. That's seems to be the motto around the
WISPA tour, and I must say I really like those new style of outfit that make
those girls more and more attractive by the minute.
 Nicol
for example was wearing yesterday an Adidas dress to die for, designed by
Stella McCartney, and it was really showing her stunning figure.
"It is a bit of investment at the start of the season, because the clothes
are a bit more expensive, but after that, you are sorted for the rest of the
year" confessed Nicol.
Well, girl, perfectly fitting for a Queen of Squash who is according to the
Malaysian Prime Minister, more famous than he is - dixit Liz Irving her
coach! |
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Doha En
Bref, Edition #3
Everything you never knew you needed to know
about the Qatar Classic |
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AND NICE FATHERS TOO...
 Was
it the last time those two "Sacred Monsters" have battled
together? Maybe. But tonight was not for me about the result.
There was a shine and aura that
emanated from the glass court today in Doha.
What was shining through was the utmost respect and
admiration between those not that young anymore players... And
I'm not the only one who felt it.
 Thierry
and David have something else in common. They are happily married,
and been in the same relationship for donkeys years. And the
similarity doesn't stop there.
They both have two baby girls... For David, Kayla and Miley,
and for Thierry, Jade and Paola. The Lincou girls are
just a bit older than the Palmers, but not by far.
I can still remember both Jade and Kayla as new born. It was
only, well, last week... |
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"Thierry and I are the same age, we started at the same time,
and had the same progression. We've got a lot of respect for
each other, and he is one of the greatest players of all time."
"David and I belong to the same generation, we always had tough
matches. And in a way, we probably helped each other during our
career to keep getting better, to keep the focus and the courage
to keep fighting.
"If he is a tough competitor on court, off the court, he is one
of the nicest guys on the tour, such a good bloke, and a
gentleman.
"I think that we both give a good example in squash in general,
and I’m proud to show that kind of professionalism."
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I'VE DONE IT
AGAIN...
If you've been following this
column for a few years, you may remember that at some point, I
want to start a new website,
www.ifyouwantraininvitethefrog.com.
Yes, after making the water fall in Kuwait - quarters, semis and
finals four years ago - in Bermuda, in St Louis, etc, I've
singlehandly got Doha a little bit of fresh rain today.
And a big storm it was too.
What can I say, from a Frog, what do you expect... |
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Doha En
Bref, Edition #2
Everything you never knew you needed to know
about the Qatar Classic |
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They said
At 10/5, Bozza/Omar AA
first game:
Ref:
“Match ball, 10/5”
Bozza:
“That would be nice”
Omar AA:
“Thank you !!! You want to go home???
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DEGREES
OF SEPARATION…
 Take
Cameron Pilley, whose biggest problem last week,
according to his tweet, was sore muscles. But not from squash,
no, but from Jet Skiing in KW.
Do I felt sorry for him to have bundles of fun while I was
working my keyboard off????
I offered him to pay for a massage to relieve his poor body. "That
would be nice, Fram"... The cheeky thing….
And what a good coach he is to have on one’s corner. As he was
helping Steve Coppinger yesterday, the only that was
coming out of his mouth between game was “Yep”. “Yep”. “Yep”.
 A
man of few words, a bit like Bozza really who commented
after his match against Omar AA: “A 3/0 result against an
Egyptian can’t be bad, can it Stewart?” Says I? And his answer
“And I won too…”
Back to Cameron, who, as you may not know, is actually
“hanging out” as they say nowadays, with Danish Line Hansen,
who's obviously having luuuuuuuve on her mind as she purely
forgot her racquet as she stepped on court for training!
Lauren Selby, sister and daughter of, who have the same
sponsor, saved the day.
 But
when she is not helping her colleagues out, Lauren never stops
chatting. I mean, never.
She’s got a tendency to blame others for talking to her, to
finally agree and plead guilty with a “Excuse me, have you met
my Dad????!!!!!”
Fair enough. No wonder Daryl is so quiet. He just can’t place a
word between those two....
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In Qatar, no detail is overlooked.
Here, a sponge to prevent a door to the Glass court from making
noise during rallies....
And for the
first year, SquashSite is awarded an official seat! |
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Couples on Tour:
James & Vanessa |
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Ibrahim & Debbie Algosaibi |
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I want to go hoooooome.... |
NO NOISE, THANK YOU
Sorry boys and girls, but I truly fail to see what the sound of
5 mobiles ringing together, the scream of a baby in the
background, players chatting about the weather, audience
babbling about the referring or last week's car crash in South
Patagonia, is going to add to the fun of the squash rallies.
It rather spoils it for me…
If 80.000 people in Roland Garros or Wimbledon can keep quiet
during a rally, and respect the players that are giving their
sweat, blood and soul on court, I don’t see why we can’t keep
our far less numerous crowd quiet!
Clap, cheer, shout, phone, chat about your sex life, whatever.
Between rallies, by all means.
But during,
what’s the point?????
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LJ
DOESN'T COMPLAIN
 Not
because he is a nice guy, which he is, but because he doesn’t
have the strength to!
“I often don’t have the energy to complain! I admire players
like Power, who could finish a hard rally, and have some witty
comment in his pocket!
All my energy goes to my game, and I can’t engage in a
complicated verbal conversation! It’s a different energy
source…"
That's the best excuse for being a nice guy I ever heard... |
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Art in the making... From
this... to that... |
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Doha En
Bref, Edition #1
Everything you never knew you needed to know
about the Qatar Classic |
JUNIORS AT HEART
 You
can’t take the junior out of the squash player… Bless
Birthday Boy Henrik Mustonen & Nicholas Mueller - who by the
way, speaks five languages and counting…
“I speak a bit of Swiss, French, Italian, English, and of course
German. But my Arabic is really poor. Still I can get by, ask
for some directions, food, and of course, Mango juice without
ice”… announces Nico, business as usual.
Today, I found those boys playing paper scissors stone while Simon
was struggling against Max. “It was nice of the Organising
Committee in Qatar to organise the Official Dinner just for my
birthday”, smiles Henrik.
And as those two play away : “It’s a game we used to play as
juniors” “explains Nico. “One day, instead of spinning the
racquet before a game, we actually played it on court to decide
who would serve, but the ref refused...”
“What can I say, when you have lived as long as we have, one has
to cherish the memories” concluded Cheeky Henrik…
I have the feeling I’ll have a few en brefs coming from those
two… |
ODD COUPLE
If one day, you are bored, and want a bit of entertainment,
don’t hesitate to join the Coppinger/Kempy table at breakfast,
you won’t regret it.
Those two are food aficionados really. When I joined them, they
were trying to determine what ingredients were found in some
lovely Lebanese hot snack the buffet offered us.
Thyme? Oregano? After a few tastings, it was decided that
Oregano was the definite bet.
And then, those two went on explaining me what a Marguerita
originally came from. “Well”, says Coppinger, “it actually
comes from the name of a queen, Margaret in English, and it was
a dish created to represent the Italian flag, as in green, red
and white.”
And here they try and figure out the third original ingredient.
Cheese, fine. Tomato, ok. But what about the green.
 Off
goes Kempy on google there and then. And of course, the answer
was, BASIL!
And happy to have their answer, they just went on playing
backgammon on some electronic devise I wouldn’t even know how to
switch on….
The life with Kempy must be a joy of every minute, ain’t it,
Jacklyn… |
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Couples on the Tour :
Olga & Bradley |
RAMY’S RACQUET TALE
 You
may have heard of the ups and downs of Ramy’s racquets
over the years, and after staying with Prince for a very long
time, then some time with Head, Ramy is now with Dunlop.
But do you know how he got
to find the Dunlop racquet he likes?
Well, back to Egypt, he sees a junior train with a junior
racquet, from memory, a Dunlop BlackMax Titanium, that looks a
lot like one racquet the World number one played with. He
approaches the kid…
“Well, I proposed to him to exchange his racquet against two of
mine, brand new ones. I don’t know, I have to ask my dad,
replies the boy a bit disconcerted. The next day, he comes back,
with his Dad, who accepts the deal, only if I make a few photos
with me.
“And I sent it to Dunlop, and the model I have now is extremely
similar to that racquet!”
Only Ramy…
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Stop Press! Is Shabs being
bullied??? |
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