Going into the semi-final of the Al-Ahram World Squash Open, Amr Shabana was the only Egyptian left in the event. Inas Mazhar reports The final of the one-week, $152,000 Al-Ahram World Squash Open was scheduled for yesterday night. In the semi-final there was only one Egyptian, two Frenchmen and an Australian left. The seven other Egyptians who took part in the competition failed to make it past the quarter-finals. The men's team thus failed to repeat their heroics at the World Juniors Championship two months ago, when three of the last four were Egyptian. "The men's tournament is tougher than the juniors," said head coach Amir Wagih, who was also the coach of the junior team at the World Championship. "The men's tournament is stronger and the players are the best and have the experience. We had eight players here, but apart from Shabana, Darwish and Hindi, the others are still young, They have just joined the men's tour so they don't have the same experience as the others." Early in the event's first day, unseeded Mohamed Abbas caused the first upset in the main draw when he dismissed Malaysia's No 12 seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-10 (5-3) in 69 minutes. But in a later match on the all-glass court by the famous Pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian No 2 Karim Darwish suffered a shock defeat at the hands of lower-ranked compatriot Wa'el El-Hindi. It was a bad day for ninth seed Darwish as El-Hindi came from a game down to win 5- 11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-10 (3-0). Event favourite Amr Shabana, the world No 1, and defending his title in front of a home crowd, had a tough test on the all-glass court, but in his first PSA tour event since May, beat English qualifier Peter Barker 11-7, 5-11, 11-4, 11-6. Three other Egyptians made an early exit from the tournament as they lost their openers in the first round. Qualifier Tarek Moe'men lost to France's Gregory Gaultier, the eighth seed 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-6) in 31 minutes. Unseeded Omar Mosaad was beaten 3-1 by the Australian fifth seed Stewart Boswell 11- 7, 11-5, 10-11, 11-3 in 41 minutes. Qualifier Hisham Ashour also lost in the opening day to another Australian, the world No 15 Stewart Boswell in three straight sets 3-0, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 in just 39 minutes. Ashour's disappointment was contrasted by the joy of his younger brother Rami Ashour, the 18-year-old record two-time world junior champion who was drawn to face fourth seed James Willstrop in the first round. The Englishman was forced to withdraw from the event due to gastro-enteritis, giving the Egyptian teenager an unexpected bye through to the second round. In the longest match of the day, the rapidly- improving teenager from Cairo fought back from 2/1 down to beat experienced Yorkshireman Lee Beachill, the 10th seed who was runner-up in 2004, 11-4, 10-11 (0-2), 6-11, 11-8, 11-5 in 83 minutes. The second victory for the Egyptians that day was El-Hindi surviving a tough five-game battle against seventh seed Nick Matthew to claim a shock 11-8, 4-11, 11-4, 2-11, 11-10 (2-0) victory over the British national champion. The success marked the first time the 26-year-old Egyptian had reached the last eight in five appearances in the event. Shabana needed four games to overcome unseeded compatriot Abbas 11-6, 5-11, 11-9, 11- 10 (3-1). In the quarter-finals Shabana beat unseeded compatriot El-Hindi 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 in 41 minutes. Shabana is in sparkling form this year, with three PSA tour titles to his credit already and only three losses in 26 matches. Rami Ashour's run came to an end by Frenchman Gaultier who stopped the Egyptian teenager in the first round of the event almost 12 months ago. This week Gaultier was again too strong for the local hero, winning 11-10 (3-1), 11-9, 11-2 in 44 minutes. The illustrious squash career of the former world champion Peter Nicol came to an emotional end by the Great Pyramids of Giza on Sunday when the Englishman lost out to French rival Thierry Lincou in an hour-long quarter-final. Nicol, one of the most successful players of all-time, with more than 50 major international titles and 60 months at the top of the world rankings to his name, went down 11-6, 5-11, 11-9, 11-6 in 58 minutes to third seed Lincou, the man whom he last beat at the same stage of the competition almost a year ago.
