I will be arriving in Dammam, Saudi Arabia late on 30 November. Regardless of how I go in the event, I will be staying there for the week and will be writing a daily blog about the matches and the atmosphere in Al-Khobar. The blog will be updated each evening from 1 December and will contain match analysis as well as behind the scenes happenings.
Sunday 5 December - Day 4
I would have loved to stay longer and watch the whole event and enjoy the weather and our generous host's responsibility but its time to move on for a much awaited family reunion in Pakistan. My last day in Saudi was relaxing and fun as almost all days. I stayed at the hotel in the morning and caught up with Campbell for lunch.
Rosner played well in the first to lead 10-7 against Barker but Pete showed why he is in the top ten to comeback in win the first and later the match in 3 games. Tom competed brilliantly against Darwish but the Egyptian was too good to even drop a single game and Daryl was as steady as ever to see off Olli.
Soon it was time for the boys to meet for our planned Paintball game. The England vs Rest of the world paintball match ended in a draw last night. After intense firing and a failed attempt by me, Martin got the England team's flag, got shot and had to drop the flag but Kristian Frost took it home to give Rest of the World a lead. It was after a clever plan from the England side that Kempy took our flag to level the score. There was some short range fires shot which aren't allowed but everything is fair in love and war - right?!
We were all buzzing with adrenalin after the game. I had a quick dinner and rushed back to my room to change and get ready for my flight. My room mate the Saudi wild card Taher Saif had left without paying his dues and that took a while to clear with the management. I bumped into our host Ziad al Turki just as I was getting in the car to head off to the airport and thanked him for his generous hospitality.
For me it's time to head off to see family in Pakistan. It is very relaxing for me over there and I cant wait to start my much needed time off from Squash and travelling. The weather is pleasant these days as the sun shines everyday with 20 degrees on the Celcius scale. Its perfect to start training again with morning runs but first ... let the relaxation begin!
Saturday 4 December - Day 3
It as a long day of watching Squash. Hisham was impressive in his controlled play against LJ. Azlan survived Krajscak and Joey B couldnt find his game against Alister. Shabana was ruthless and Nick controlled Shahier very well.
However, the performance of the day was that of the old master Thierry Lincou against the young Egyptian Omar Mossad. Omar had beaten Lincou earlier in the year in the US Open and Thierry knew that he had to be his best and that he was. He defied age with his sharpness and made Omar look slow. He was onto the ball and played excellent length and width before attacking with is volley. The players were in awe as Thierry took the match in three games to move into the next round.
Farhan had told me that he was up for his match against Gaultier and that he was. Arguably the most talented player on the circuit Farhan is a treat to watch. The players gathered together to watch this Pakistani youngster play. He did threaten Greg but not consistently. Greg was impressive and ruthless and controlled Farhan well to win the match in three games.
In the afternoon I watched the boys show their stuff in the Bowling Alley and Cameron was the best by far. At night I caught up with Martin and Campbell in their room and had a good laugh. There were also some funny moments at dinner and I will try to find something to write about in the new World Tour section of the blog. Tomorrow (Sunday) is my last day in Saudi and apart from the matches we plan to play a game of paintball after dinner.
Friday 3 December - Day 2
It was a relaxing day for the body even though the mind was working hard trying to find answers and plan for the future. I told myself to relax for now and bring out these thoughts at another time. I watched many matches between lunch and dinner but there are three that I would like to mention.
Martin and Shorbagy
Martin was doing well trying to keep the rallies long and match the young egyptian's pace. He settled in more in the second and errors started to come
off shorbagy's racket. Martin made an
excellent comeback from 6-9 down to level the game but shorbagy closed it out after that. Marty played with more confidence in the third which was similar to the second. It was 9-9 and it looked like Marty would take the game but shorbagy played a couple of good rallies to close out the game and with it the match.
Steve and Aamir
Steve had been sick since landed on Saudi. It was clear that he was far from 100% with a lacklusture first game. Aamir stayed calm as he usually is and played well in the second not to give steve a chance to get back Into it. The third was comfortable for Aamir as Steve was really feeling the effects of the sickness. Hard luck steve!
Campbell and Daryl
I was looking forward to watching Campbell play Daryl on the glass court. I thought Campbell had a good chance as the glass suited his style play. However, Daryl used his experience to make the court work for himself by hitting excellent length as Campbell struggled and found it hard to find his own. I am sure he will learn from it.
Tomorrow my day begins with commentary for the first two matches on squash tv. I hope I can manage with the sore throat that I have and it doesn't get any worse. After that it will be back to watch the action after a bit of a break.
Thursday 2 December - Day 1
The day went according to plan and I felt comfortable on the glass court after a couple of hits and had a good power nap after lunch. It was match time soon and I looked forward to it. The court and the atmosphere looked and felt great.
The match itself was far from good. My length was short and thierry used the slow court to his advantage very well with his slow dying length. He controlled play and my bad length was getting punished by the slow court and a very worthy opponent. Two games ended very quickly and I offered resistance in the third and led 7-6 at one staged. The lack of preparation over the last 6 weeks showed and my fitness was well off the mark. It was a comfortable win for lincou to move to the second round and a disappointing performance by me.
On the other hand I learnt a lot from the match. Lincou showed that slow pace can be used to one's advantage and also that keeping fit at 34 is also achieveable. I will surely take these things back and prepare well for next year.
My two weeks off start tomorrow and I look forward to a nice relaxing time away from being inside a squash court. Tomorrow, I will be watching friends an future opponents play and hopefully write about Martin, Campbell and Steve's matches.
Wednesday 1 December - Day 0
A late night flight meant we landed at 2am and got to the accommodation at 4am - it was going to be a long day. We are playing and staying at the Sunset Beach Resort by the sea very close to Bahrain. I am sharing my cabana with Borja who I get along with very well and the back door leads to water - 20 feet away.We have been given a food card to use at the restaurant with a generous amount of USD80 per day. I am over dozing on fresh orange juice to get rid of my sore throat.
After a good sleep the mission was to get a hit on the glass court. Having arrived at an odd hour I couldnt make a booking but was fortunate that the got the court ready before the scheduled time. Shabana and Darwish finished earlier and I had a good solo for ten minutes before playing threes with Simpo and Cusk. Stretch, shower, lunch followed and soon after it was time to get ready for the PSA meeting and then dinner.
The meeting went well but lasted well over 2 hours. Everyone was dying to get to dinner and what a feast they put up. The Arab hospitality showed as the organiser presented every player with a hand made Arab sandal as a gift and also announced a car for the World Champion to be. The boys had fun with a camel provided for rides and Ramy was the first to jump. There were some funny moment and soon after it was time to go to bed and look forward to match day. I am hoping to get atleast a couple more hits on the glass before my match at 5. I look forward to it with much anticipation!
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| 3s with Simpo and Cusk in Saudi |
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