My 1st LIVE Squash Experience

It was a superb experience to watch live squash

World University Squash – Chennai

To Begin with, I have to admit that I don’t know that there is a sport called ‘Squash’ at all. No. Don’t join me in the group of Indians who don’t know any sport other than Cricket. I do follow F-1, Tennis, Football, and Chess to name a few. Only during CWG 2010, I came to know about Squash. I came to know about Saurav Ghosal, Dipika Pallikal, Joshna Chinnappa, and Ananka Alankomony. For your info, every year one Squash player is getting Arjuna Award for last 3 years.

World University Squash Championship is held as a part of World University Championships which was held every 2 years. World University Championships include above 37 sports which are held in various nations. So, this year World University Squash Championship was held in Chennai from September 1 to 7.

After I came to know about this event through popular Sports Quiz show, me and my 2 friends decided to attend the event daily. 1st day we decided to go to venue during evening. But, due to know mistaken identity of venue, we reached venue only at 7.30 PM. By the time, almost all games are over and only 2 games are going on. One of those games features Pakistani 4th seeded in the tournament Saqib Yusuf takes on Martin Mosnik of Slovenia. We supported Pakistani and he wins it in style. In other match we saw, 2nd seed in tournament Zahed Mohammed from Egypt takes on James Van Staveren of Canada. Zahed wasted no time in dispatching unseeded Canadian.

After all the matches are over, We were said that tomorrow there will be Quarter Finals in Individual events. We also came to know only 1 Indian is still in fray. Aparajitha Balamurugan had saved the blushes for hosts. All the other 4 Indians (3 in men, 1 in women) had lost in their opening round. Quirky fact is Aparajitha is the only unseeded player in Women’s Quarterfinals while Ravi Dixit of India is the only seeded player not to feature in Men’s Quarterfinals.

Day 2

On 2nd day, we decided to be at venue at 3 PM. Although we missed 8-16 playoff matches, we were able to see all the quarter finals. Quarter finals go in 2 courts simultaneously. One at Centre Court and other at Court-2. We decided to toggle between both the courts during games break. In Centre court (CC), 1st QF features Aparajitha and 2nd seeded player from Egypt Farah Abdul Majed. In court-2, Azan of Malaysia takes on Fuller of South Africa. Aparajitha was no match for 2nd seed in spite putting up a good fight. She eventually lost in 4 games. Fuller also beats Azan in 4 games.

Day’s 2nd set of matches featured 2 Malaysians. Sanjay Singh of Malaysia took on top seed from Egypt Mazen Sabri in CC while Adrakie of Malaysia takes on Eddie Charlton from Great Britain in C2. Sabri after losing 1st set came back well to finish the match in 4 games. While Charlton almost lost the match after taking 1st 2 games easily, He lose next 2 games before coming back strongly in deciding game to win it with a 3-2 score line.

Next up was final set of Women’s QF matches. In CC, top seed Olga Ertlova of Czech Republic took on Chloe Mesic of France. In C2, Camilla Tomlinson of GBR took on Chyna Tucker of RSA. Just like her male counterpart, top seed Olga lost 1st game and wins the next 3 games to win by 3-1 score line. In other match, Camilla beats Chyna by same 3-1 score line. Day’s final set of matches included both the players we saw on 1st day. Zahed faced Joel Makin of GBR in CC, while Saqib took on Martin of RSA. Zahed won 3-0 easily, while Saqib takes time but eventually wins it with a 3-2 score line.

Day 3

On day 3, we reached venue at 11.45 AM. 1st match was an Indo-Pak affair with Sachika Sengale of India taking on Sammer Anjum of Pakistan. Sachika beats Sammer by 3-1 after losing 1st game. At the same time there were matches going in C1, C2, C3 and C4 simultaneously. Since it is Indo-Pak match, we decided to stay in Centre court. After this only we came to know all the 3 Indian men had lost their matches today. After Sachika match, Aparajitha took on Chyna in 5-8 playoffs. Aparajitha dispatched Chyna in 4 games after losing 1st game. Azan beats Chloe in another 5-8 playoffs. All those matches ended before 1.30 PM. We were told that after the lunch break Semis will start at 2.45 PM.

1st semifinal of the day was between Camilla and Farah. We supported Camilla. Camilla upsets the 2nd seed in 4 games after losing 1st game. And who doesn’t likes watching dark horse beating favorite. In next match, Zahed takes on Saqib. Both were our favorites, so we decided to be neutral. Zahed wins by 3-1 score line. In next semifinal, Olga takes on Fuller. Olga was too hot to handle for Fuller. Fuller can manage to win only 15 points from 3games. In last match of the day, Sabri takes on Charlton with Sabri wins it in straight games.

Day 4

Next day was finals day. We were told that matches begins only at 1.15 PM. But we reached venue only at 3 PM. So we miss all the play-offs. But we were in time for Bronze Medal match. Farah of Egypt wins bronze defeating Fuller in 4 games. In Men’s event, Charlton of GBR wins bronze after defeating Saqib in 4 games despite losing 1st game. Around 4.15 PM, finals started. 1st we had women’s final since Ladies first. But final was not up to the expectation ending in 3 games with Camilla was the Champion. Top seeded Czech can only manage to get silver. Just like women’s final, men’s final also ended in 3 games with top seed Sabri was too good for 2nd seed and his countrymen Zahed. We got to know that team event will be conducted from next day.

Day 5

On Day 5, Egypt beat Pakistan, Malaysia beat India, South Africa beat Canada and Great Britain beat France in the mixed team event. As a result, there will be Indo-Pak match in 5-8 playoffs. That news makes us exciting and we planned to be at venue before the match starts.

Day 6

Day 6 of tournament had semifinals of team event and also Indo-Pak match for 5-8 playoffs. We reached venue before the matches started only to be said that Pakistan team has already left Chennai due to some internal problems in their nation. Thus we were reprieved of Indo-Pak match.

India were given walkover and will meet Canada who beats France 2-1 in another 5-8 playoffs. 1st semi final was between Egypt and Malaysia. In Men’s single 1st match Sabri takes on Sanjay Singh in repeat of their QF in individual event. Just like their QF, in this match too Sanjay wins 1st game only to lose next 3 games. In 2nd match, Farah takes on Azan in women’s singles match. Farah wins the closely fought contest with 3-2 score line.

Thus making no need for decider. In 2nd semi, GBR takes on RSA. Men’s singles 1st match was between Charlton and Oliver. Charlton takes the match in 4 games. In women’s singles, individual champion Camilla takes on Chyna in repeat of their individual QF. Just like their QF, Camilla wins the match by 3-1 score line. Thus making no need for decider in this match too.

Day 7

After a week full of excitement, it all came down to this final day. We felt slightly sad since competition is getting over. But final day matches makes it more memorable. All the 3 set of matches on this day went up to deciders. India after winning women’s singles through Sachika, loses both their men’s singles to Canada and eventually settles for 6th spot. Canada finishes 5th. In bronze medal play-offs, Malaysia loses women’s singles to South Africa. Fuller beats Azan in the repeat of their individual QF. It was a thrilling match in which Fuller saves 3 match points in final game before winning it by 3-2 score. But, Malaysia extended the match to decider by winning 1st men’s singles. Sanjay Singh defeated Martin in a 5 game thriller. In decider, Adeen Bahthiar was too good for Neil Van Der Merwe and wins the match in 4 games. Thus giving Malaysia bronze in team event.

In final of team event, Egypt takes on Britain. 1st up is women’s singles with Camilla and Farah setting up the rematch of their individual SF. It was a tight affair, but Individual Champion Camilla was strong enough to beat Farah in 5 games. Next in 1st men’s singles, top seed Sabri struggled hard before winning it in 5 games. In the match Sabri saved a match point in 4th game before winning that game and finishing the match quickly in 5th game. Decider of team event was contested between Zahed and Joel Makin. Initially we thought that Makin will be no contest for Zahed since Zahed had beaten Makin in straight sets during Individual QF. But, Makin proved to be a tough guy and wins our hearts with gritty display. But, it was not enough and Zahed eventually romped home in 5 games. Thus ended the tournament in fantastic fashion.

So overall, it was a nice experience to see Squash games in live. One thing I forget to mention is we were the only spectators on most of the days. It was an embarrassing experience that game of such magnitude goes on without fans. Organizers are also in fault of not promoting the event in a big way. Maybe next time, they will promote it in a big way.