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 Al
Ahram EN BREF
Everything you
never knew you needed to know about the World Open ...
THE END… |
CAIRO ...
 This
was my first ever visit to Egypt, and this 2006 Al-Ahram World Open
is bound to stay engraved in my mind for o so many reasons…
The sight of a glass court behind the Pyramids is somehow of an
extra-terrestrial nature.
 As
if somebody had played a joke and installed a film set right behind
the glass court…. And that feeling of immense calm that overwhelms you
at the sight of those Old Pointing Ladies quietly grinning at you,
putting your life, your trouble, within the perspective of the
centuries that have passed by on those rocks…
The apparent disorganisation, which in fact works perfectly well.
Try to impose a more occidental way of dealing with events, you
break yourself against a painful wall. Relax, adapt, smile, and
realise that “everything is going to be OK”, you start having the
time of your life.
 The
fantastic “Meridien Pyramides”, probably the most relaxing and self
contained hotel I’ve been in, with several bars, restaurants,
swimming pool, open day and night, and a personnel “hors-pair”…
I strongly recommend it, and no, they are not sponsoring us, so this
is not a commissioned compliment…
 |
SQUASH ...
 The
Boss’ last match, of course, the main reason for my presence here.
Peter wanted to play one last time in the middle of the desert. He
fought like an injured tiger to survive extremely hard first
matches. He wanted to die here, surrounded by the serenity of the
dunes, of the sun reflecting on the gold-ish of the Pyramids. To die
and be reborn. He is not a Professional Squash Player anymore.
There was the enormous expectations surrounding Amr Shabana, a quiet
and tranquil man who doesn’t feed on the noise and attention but
prefers calm and solitude. The pressure of the Press here just got
to him… He is nevertheless a true champion, a true gentleman, a true
sportsman. He IS the Prince of Egypt.
And of course, the fantastic comeback of the Marine in the final,
coming back from 2/0 down and 5 match balls to finally win the
longest World Open match in the new scoring against a young Greg
Gaultier who has many years to win his World Title… |
PEOPLE ...
May all the people that have contributed to this coverage be
thanked…. Mr Sawy, Master in Command, who makes chaos look like an
orderly walk in the Park….
Andrew Shelley, Fabrice Debus, our new recruit Stacey Ross, Malcolm
Willstrop, Reeme
Mansi and Amr El-Daly whose support during this trip has been
invaluable…. Mr Galal Alam, Egyptian Squash Federation, for his
originality and for all the laughs, thanks Mr President… Mr Menshawy,
WSF Vice- President, for his humour, intelligence and kindness… And
of course, Mr Robert Edwards, the Voice of Squash, without whom I
probably would have slashed my wrists about three or four times… |
|
Steve Cubbins, from the cold suburb of
Newcastle, England, who has worked day and night, and myself are
grateful to you all to have made this coverage possible.
Au revoir, Égypte, à bientôt…
 |
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Al
Ahram EN BREF
Everything you
never knew you needed to know about the World Open ...
ISSUE #6 |
Is this any way to treat your sponsor
?????
Not sure that Andy
Bunting
from Prince will renew with Peter Nicol, John White or Tim Garner
after that one.... |
INCIDENTS AND FUNNIES
Egypt is an endless sources of surprises, I tell you.
Would you believe that the President of the Egyptian Federation,
elected when Mr Menshawy got elected WSF Vice-President, has been a
TV star for 19 years now with a primetime TV show called “Incidents
and Funnies”, which is all about “non conventional happenings”.
“The show is like me”, former Egyptian Team Captain Galal Alam
explains, “it's all about being different. The same way you see me
in short in an event like this one, the show I present relates all
the mis-happenings or the
extraordinary. Anything unusual, out of the norm, original, will end
up on my show!”
Young kids sitting right behind me added “it’s interesting, and it’s
different!!!”
So there you go. A Federation President AND a TV star… Only in
Egypt… |
MEA CULPA
 You
may remember I told you that we hardly heard any mobiles while
watching the matches… Well, that was when we were at the Cairo
Centre.
Now we are in the main arena, it has been a festival of sounds,
rings, funny tunes, “eh, taxi”, Arabic songs, the lot, and people
are even watching the live TV coverage on their portable TVs!
At least, it’s more varied and exotic than the “nokia tune”… |
MET THEM AT LAST…
I was so happy to finally get to meet Amr Shabana’s parents, his mum
Doria – nicknamed Didi - dad Mustafa, and sister
Salma.
 What
an adorable, close, supportive and passionate family the Prince of
Egypt has. They welcome you with open arms, and open heart. There is
no pretence there. It’s real. It’s genuine. These are true people.
And when I asked Didi my usual “describe Amr in three words”, she
didn’t have to think twice, “Moody, Mad, and Loveable!” to end with
a proud “eh! This is my son we are talking about!!!!!”
Hear hear.
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 ALL
THE WAY FROM INDIA
Please meet Adi and his dad Rovi, who came especially
to Giza from Bombay to say farewell to the Boss…
“I don’t play squash but my son just loves it”, said Rovi. “I love
squash, it’s a great spectator sport, it’s both a mental and a
physical sport. I went to Bermuda, I went to Pakistan, just to see
the events. It’s just a wonderful game.”
The eyes of the young player are shining away. “I want to be like
Peter Nicol, I’ve got all his videos, I’ve got his CD…! He is a
fantastic champion, like Andre Agassi who retired on the same day.
They will be both greatly missed.”
Hear hear… |
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Al
Ahram EN BREF ISSUE #5
Everything you
never knew you needed to know about the World Open ... |
GOOD NEWS,
BAD NEWS…
 This
morning at breakfast, Neil Harvey, who was Peter’s coach for
many many years, told me,
“There are 4 people that are immediately beneficiating from the
Boss’ retirement: Adrian Grant, who jumps straight from 16 to
15, good for the draw; Cameron Pilley, very happy to be now
23, that saves him from a lot of troubles, as he gets straight into
the main draws instead of having to qualify; the number one seed
of the qualifiers, who now gets in, and the first reserve in
the qualifiers, who also gets in….”
 Then
he added: “Last night, after his last match, Peter has a quiet meal
with his friends after the match. It was a good moment.
The bad news is that Peter has now retired. The good news, and I
nearly fell of my chair, is that Pat Nicol picked up the bill…”
Don’t mind him, Pat, just don’t mind him…. |
SPOT THE BALL
 Due
to a little misunderstanding, the referees have been struggling from
way back up there in the stand to even see the ball, let alone the
not-up! Which led Mr John Massarella, during one of Shabana’s
matches, to state clearly,
“It looks like a let, from HERE”…
So, the misunderstanding has been quickly rectified, and the refs
won’t need binoculars to “spot the ball” anymore….. |
TWO LEGENDS ON THE SAME DAY
 Would
you believe that André Agassi and Peter actually threw in the towel
not only on the same day, but at about the same time, at less than 2
hours difference?
 And
yes, for the first time in 12 years, the Boss is not in the British
Open draw. Only when I got to look for his name, didn’t find it
there, I did realise that this was it. I would never see his name
again on a draw.
And that’s when it hit me… |
|
 NO
NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a confession to make, Arabic is not a language I speak or
read fluently. So, when I was trying to get to the ladies room, I
was shown three prefab rooms at the top of three flights of stairs.
I chose the middle one, as it seemed to be empty, and I was about to
step onto the first rung, where I heard/saw two poor janitors
running/shouting “no no no no”, showing me the sign in Arabic on the
wall.
Euh….. the sign of the first toilets said "Ladies".
How could I miss that… |
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Al
Ahram EN BREF ISSUE #4
Everything you
never knew you needed to know about the World Open ... |
NICE BABY ...
 As
as to be expected, all matches with Shabana are loud, the crowd
enjoying every nick, in total despair for every tin. The kids in
particular. But nothing could have prepared me for the KARIM/WAEL
popularity contest.
 On
my right, Whalid Darwish, supporting his brother, along with
most of the stadium. On my left, Wael’s corner, with sister Dalia
and friend Joey Barrington, and a group of “Waelists”, who chanted
the name of their idol…
Until the great moment, where one of the two, really can’t remember
which, and it really doesn’t matter, made yet again a great nick.
Just behind me, I heard the normal screams from the many many
children, their very fast Arabic. But suddenly, out of the blue, one
of the kids punctuated his sentence with a loud “Nice Baby!!!!”
Nice Baby? What’s next. “Come on, mate, give us some wellies”?????
I tell you, my Arabic is getting better by the minute… |
MAGICAL WATER…
 You
may think that getting water in the middle of the desert would be
difficult.
But not when your name is Galal Alam, and you are the
President of the Egyptian federation.
I was really really thirsty after about two hours spent at the
Pyramids, and as there was no water in the Press Room, I was
basically dying…
But as a Sir Gallahad in a shining armour, Mr Galal came to my
rescue. Not only he got me a seat in the front row, middle of the
court, but he got me water in actually less than one minute.
What can I say… A fountain of blessing at the foot of the pyramids…
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ALL THAT FOR A ROSE…
I must admit that the last days have been pretty hectic for the
SquashSite team, and this morning, after yet again a very short
night, I was feeling a bit down.
And here I was, raving away for a reason or another, when one of the
genitors came to me and tendered me a rose.
“For you”, he simply said.
And you know what? All the tension, all the stress, even the anger I
felt just melted away. And I knew why I was here, in Cairo. Because
I love squash. But above that, because I love people that love
squash. Welcome to Cairo. |
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Al
Ahram EN BREF ISSUE #3
Everything you
never knew you needed to know about the World Open ... |
MAHMOOD, A GEM…
You have, in all tournament, the « magical man », you know, the one
that gets all the results, types them in, makes sure that everybody
gets the info when and where needed, organise this, help with that,
keeps Mr Abdul Monien El Sawy, Director General of the
tournament - who everybody calls Sawy- and the Voice of Squash
Robert Edwards, as happy and as relaxed as possible…
 On
this tournament, he is called Mahmood Assem, and he is a
student in probably the best university of Cairo, The American
University, where he learns political sciences.
“I’ve been playing squash for years”, he explains.
“My dad, Assem Khalifa, was a squash player, and used to take me
with him to the club. So, I got the virus, and want to keep on
working in squash, probably in the management field.”
Mahmood is always calm, always on the ball, always smiling. He makes
our life here as easy as is humanly possible.
Thank you.
 |
JAMES OUT OF HOSPITAL ...
 As
I was coming back to the hotel after the session at the Stadium,
guess who just stepped in the lift?
Yes, the man himself, looking a little emaciated, I must say. Dark
shadows under the eyes, a courageous smile on his face, obviously
tired, but sooo relieved to be out of hospital…
“I will sleep for a while, and then, try to see if I can get home
Monday or Tuesday,” he confirmed.
So, he is OK, guys. Not in full shape yet, but at least, he is out
of hospital. And that is the best news of the tournament. By far. |
PSA PRESIDENT IMPRESSED…
 After
his defeat against Spanish hope Borja Golan, Mr Mark Chaloner
has been quite complimentary about the players’ new generation. “I
must say I’m amazed by the quality of players in the draws these
days, whether by their court abilities, the way they present
themselves, or their professionalism all around.”
“And it shown in tournaments with $50,000, which sometimes doesn’t
attract the top 10 anymore, but in which the quality of players is
still incredibly high…”
Yes, I think we can say that the future of PSA looks bleeping good… |
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Al
Ahram EN BREF
ISSUE #2
Everything you
never knew you needed to know about the World Open ... |
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FRENCH PASSPORT
 You
may not know that Robert Edwards is about to buy a property
in Brittany, France, and was thinking to try and get a French
Passport.
"Well, as
soon as I get my French nationality," he said with his famous little
cheeky smile.
 "I told Renan that I would play number
five in the French
team.
"And if I can’t get in the team, I’ll apply to become the manager."
Beware, France, the Robert wave is hitting our shores… |
NOT MATHEMATICS ORIENTATED….
Ok
I lost face today, yet again, and in front of no one other than the
WSF Vice-President, Mohamed El-Menshawy, and to make it all
complete, the adorable Andy Bunting, Prince sponsor to Peter
Nicol for Donkeys years and Pat Nicol, father of.
Here I was, preparing my page to make the draw, you know 1, Shabana,
2, 3…. And I went on until the bottom of the page, but I missed some
lines, got to 34, 35, 36. David Palmer.
That’s when very kindly, ex Egyptian Federation Mr El-Menshawy
pointed out that the draw had only 32 players…
Oh well, now everybody knows, there are a few things in life I’m
gifted for, mathematics is NOT one of them… |
SHUSH!!!!!!!!
 I
must say I was extremely surprised by the respect squash players get
from the spectators in Egypt.
OK, you still have a few kids that wander just behind the glass
court, but then again, that has got to be expected in a country when
grass roots squash is probably the most prolific in the world.
But don’t you dare try and talk loud near a squash court!
Even TV gets the boot. During the match Joey Barrington/Tarek Momen,
a cameraman was trying to talk with his producer while the match was
on, and was purely told to pipe it down – well, my Arabic is not
what it was, but it did look like it…
I love a country where the quality of the show is more important
than the All Mighty TV coverage… |
HELPING HANDS
 We
are blessed as ever on this tournament, and it’s amazing the number
of people that have proposed to give us a hand, and it’s even more
amazing how quickly we accepted it!!!!
We have Mr Malcolm Willstrop, as ever and hopefully forever,
Amr El Daly has been helping us as well.
But our newest recruit is called Fabrice Debus, a French fan
that didn’t know what hit him when he actually accepted to help us
out.
 He’s
been working hard and his help on those qualifiers in particular,
when 16 matches are played in the space of 4 hours on 4 courts for
example, or even better, the first round, where 13 matches are being
played on 3 courts in the space of 3 hours, is purely invaluable.
So, Steve, Stacey and your servant are eternally grateful to all
those who’ve made this difficult coverage possible… |
FROM PARIS TO CAIRO
 Let
me introduce myself : I’m Fabrice, 34 years old, living and working
in Paris for 8 years.
I first discovered squash by accident 11 years ago: my main sport
was hand-ball but a friend in the team in which I played (hello
Philippe!) and I were searching for a ‘substitution’ sport as we
were about to stop playing hand-ball. I proposed badminton, he said
he would rather play squash : ‘OK let’s give it a try !’.
Well, I can’t say that I was naturally gifted at squash, but I found
it funny. Now my level is still ‘humble’, at my best I can beat
someone at the end of the French second series (well it happened
once but I think that I will go on improving :). My goal is simply
to enjoy and have a good run.
Professional squash:
I discovered high level squash during a French national league round
in march 2002 at Saint-Cloud which boasted : Peter Nicol, Jonathon
Power, John White, Thierry Lincou, Nick Matthew, Greg Gaultier,
James Willstrop …
I was really impressed and decided to go to the Antwerp World Open
at the end of the same year to see the last sixteen.
So when I read that the world open returned to the pyramids, I knew
where I would spend my summer holidays. It was raining cats and dogs
when I left Paris, here in Cairo it’s blue sky and about 35 degrees
Celsius. I proposed Framboise to help her and so here I am !
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Al
Ahram EN BREF
ISSUE #1
Everything you
never knew you needed to know about the World Open ... |
TAXI DRIVER IN CAIRO
During my first big interview in English, Neil Harvey told me that
the only job he would never do would be “taxi driver in Cairo”.
At the time, I thought it was just a funny line.
It's neither. A line, or funny. I’m not the fearful one when it
comes to driving, I even have a cousin racedriver, yes, Tristan
Gommendy is my first cousin, but guys, since I arrived in Cairo, I
honestly thought that either I was going to die, or the car I was in
was about to kill somebody.
It doesn’t seem that there is much zebra crossing around here, so
people just… cross. But we are not talking small lanes, we are
talking carriageways, and large ones, and bleeping fast ones.
On my way from the airport, I swear to you there was a bride in full
white gear and her groom, at about 2.00 am, and a few of their
guests, trying to get down in the record books, as the shortest
marriage ever!
One bit of advice. When in a taxi in Cairo, just close your eyes,
and pray. Whichever God you wish, but just pray.
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PREMONITION…
 When
we were doing the draw, I mean, when the Voice of Squash Robert
Edwards was calling out the names, the lovely and so efficient
Mahmood was sliding the names into little slots within the main
board.
 Unfortunately,
the plastic board on which Mr Simon Parke's name was written just
wouldn’t slide in, so Mahmood tried, then Nasser tried, and
off the board went flying… and exploded into three parts.
“Mr Simon Parke is out of the tournament” said Mr Robert with a
great “à propos”.
Premonition or kiss of death?????
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CAN YOU BELIEVE IT ??
 What
a lot of bad luck for the only two Pakistanis in the draw, Aamir
Atlas Khan and Mansoor Zaman, who have been travelling
and sharing a room together, as they just HAD to play each other in
the first round of the qualifiers, didn’t they.
Not fun, really not fun, is it… |
 BEEP
BEEP BEEEEEEP
Again about traffic, you have constant horning that makes a
background noise. But in fact, you’ve got two types. The beep beep
one, that is meant to say, “I’m here, be careful, I may kill you if
you don’t step away from my car,” a nice way to avoid the “blood
delay” on your way to work.
And then you’ve got the BEEEP BEEEEP one, the one that means, “move
out out of my way, you idiot, can’t you see that I’m here, in a
hurry, and actually not in the best of moods”????
Simple really, to drive in Cairo. |
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