Egypt joins Geneva negotiations on Global Plastics Treaty, calls for urgent agreement    Egypt delivers over 30 million health services through public hospitals in H1 2025    Madinet Masr in talks for three land plots in Riyadh as part of Saudi expansion    Egypt's PM tells Palestinian PM that Rafah crossing is working 24/7 for aid    Egypt, Japan discuss economic ties, preparations for TICAD conference    Real Estate Developers urge flexible land pricing, streamlined licensing, and dollar-based transactions    Egypt's Sisi pledges full state support for telecoms, tech investment    EGP inches down vs. USD at Sunday's trading close    EGX launches 1st phone app    Escalation in Gaza, West Bank as Israeli strikes continue amid mounting international criticism    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt, UNDP discuss outcomes of joint projects, future environmental cooperation    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    After Putin summit, Trump says peace deal is best way to end Ukraine war    Egypt, Namibia explore closer pharmaceutical cooperation    Jordan condemns Israeli PM remarks on 'Greater Israel'    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt's govt. issues licensing controls for used cooking oil activities    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Egypt's Sisi: Egypt is gateway for aid to Gaza, not displacement    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Palmer performs Houdini act to take world title
Published in Daily News Egypt on 08 - 09 - 2006


Agence France-Presse CAIRO: David Palmer can count himself the bravest and Gregory Gaultier the unluckiest player there has ever been in a World Open final after the Australian beat the Frenchman 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-10, 11-2 in front of the illuminated Giza pyramids here on Wednesday. The up-and-down nature of this startling contest hardly paled into significance within the ambience of one of the seven wonders of the world, and people will debate for a long time how Gaultier allowed five match points get away. His superbly gifted stroke-play dominated long periods of the match, and his performance was often even better than when he had dethroned world champion Amr Shabana and stunned the home crowd the night before. Gaultier was within two points of a straight games victory at 9-7 in the third, but when the climax came in the fourth game he was unable by the narrowest of margins to get past the big frame and endless guts of Palmer. One of the match points was saved by a slight mis-hit by Palmer, who flung himself about and took five spectacular tumbles in the process. A mixture of controversial and noisily contested refereeing decisions added to the dramatic cocktail But under pressure the former world champion continued to believed in himself, while at the end the 23-year-old eighth seed ran out of energy and, after an hour and 40 minutes, was no longer able to run the last few balls down. I have been telling myself that I m not really in Cairo, but back in my home town in Lithgow (New South Wales), said Palmer, when asked what he was thinking on all those match points. There is a mountain there and I tried to imagine I was doing just one more training run there with my dad. I tried to take the pressure off myself that way. Maybe Gregory deserved to win. He played a lot of the better squash, but I am proud of the way I gutted this out and won it, added Palmer. Gaultier led 8-3 and 10-6 in the fourth game, and drew Palmer into rallies in four of the five match points, often threatening to finish it off with the sudden sliced low drives which had cause his opponent such difficulty. But amidst an increasing series of collisions between the two men, the referee shrank from awarding penalty points, and amidst a series of lets, the match somehow slipped away from the Frenchman. Gaultier was already speechless with disappointment by the time the fifth game started, and was unable to utter a word afterwards. But his long-time coach Andre Delhoste gave his version of events. The referee (Nasser Zahran of Egypt) changed radically in the middle of the fourth game, he claimed. And the decisions were in Palmer s favor with no warning. It meant that the winners Gregory had been scoring on the backhand he couldn t get any more; it was either a stroke for Palmer or a no let. What was building to this were Gregory s backhand drop or volley drop and most of them had been winner sand he didn t have them any more. What he had to do was to understand he couldn t make all these winners and maybe play a little boast (a ball of the sidewall) or a long kill. But it all happened in three minutes. It was almost all over and he was getting tireder and tireder. You need to be very alert mentally and quickly change the pattern. But Palmer disagreed. He (Gaultier) was really standing on the ball tonight, he alleged. It was frustrating. Last night the referee was different. Now he was giving no lets and tonight I was really struggling to get around him. I didn t want to turn it into a physical match but I was getting no lets.

Clic here to read the story from its source.