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Sun 3rd, Semi-Finals:  

[5] Wael El Hindi (Egy) bt [1] Amr Shabana (Egy)             11/9, 10/3 rtd (30m)

[4] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt [8] Azlan Iskandar (Mas)         11/3, 11/2 rtd (14m)

Semi-final letdown at Sky

The crowd at the Sky Club got the all-Egyptian final it wanted, but not through the semi-final spectacular they had hoped for, as Amr Shabana and Azlan Iskandar both retired injured after two games, to put Wael El Hindi and Karim Darwish through to their first ever Super Series finals ...
   

[5] Wael El Hindi (Egy) bt [1] Amr Shabana (Egy)
             11/9, 10/3 rtd (30m)

UNLUCKY SHABANA
Framboise reports

From the first day, the Prince of Egypt wasn’t well. We were a few to be aware of it, but he wanted to make sure that nobody heard about it. Shabana doesn’t like excuses.

But when in the second, he hurt his toe as well as the wrist, I guess he must have decided that enough is enough, and to prevent further injury, he wisely decided to call it a day.

That of course doesn’t take anything from the fact that Wael was very fast again tonight, moving very well, in and out the positions as well, and we had a superb first game, fluid and at an intense pace.

But as soon at 2/2 in the second, the World Champion went for a backhand flick that Wael hid very well, and just couldn’t move. I initially thought it was the knee, but it was his foot, a toe more precisely…

Match was over. Shabana very sad, disappeared but still apologised to the crowd, and Wael, sorry for his mate, they are really close, still was rightly happy to reach a final of a Super Series, and to crown it, only one hour away from his home…

"I was already injured before the tournament, I had an injury in my wrist, but yesterday when I was playing Peter I got a blister on my big toe, so that's why I didn't complete the match."

"I saw that he just couldn’t move when I played a disguised shot, and I knew then he was in trouble. I know he is already injured with his wrist, but that was different.

"The first game was ok, but then this is not the way I wanted to play, even if I was ready!

"Shabana is a friend of mine, I hope that this is not serious, and that he recovers very soon. He is such a player, and I do respect him, and so should the crowd, because what he’s achieved, nobody else could have achieved but him. We should be all so proud of him.

"Now, I just hope that I’ll play Karim, as the crowd won’t put any pressure on me then…"

[4] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt [8] Azlan Iskandar (Mas)
         11/3, 11/2 rtd (14m)

FALLING LIKE FLIES
Framboise reports

All those things you know and that you can’t talk about… Just like Shabana’s wrist, a few of us were aware of Azlan’s situation, and were already amazed that he won last night against Wizard Tarek.

But tonight it was painful to see the poor Malaysian, and to see how painful any lunging was. And I was relieved to see that he eventually stopped, prevented even more damage to his body.

A sad evening for us, but we’ve got two happy boys, who won’t be tired for the finals, and I predict fireworks…

"Not much to say, Azlan couldn’t perform tonight…

"I’m happy to play against Wael tomorrow, we’ll have the same chances to play…

"I’m looking forward to playing him in the final, this is a tournament I really want to win…"

"I injured my groin a week before Malaysia, I had a lot of physio treatment and ultra sounds, and that made it better for a while. But I guess that during the Malaysian, the tissues must have got damaged even more…

"I’ve been on anti-inflammatories for two weeks now, forgot what it is to sleep, thank God I’ve got a great book!

"Tonight, I thought that I was going to be fine, and the idea was to get on court, and test it, see how it was going, and see if I could play or not. But when I heard that Shabana had retired, I knew I HAD to give something to the crowd, and decided to play.

"But I just couldn’t do anything, I just couldn’t move…"

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