Egyptian Squash Association

a World Open Poem by Squash Poet

The World Open has come to an end,
And once again it’s Amr standing alone,
His accomplishment is tough to comprehend,
Four consecutive majors is a unique milestone.

I’m sorry if you find this poem too long,
And I’m sure I’ll receive a little backlash,
But you’ll get all the way through if you stay headstrong,
Just be glad I didn’t write one verse per match!

“The World Open”

(Sung to the tune of “American Pie” – Don Maclean)

A not so long time ago,
When we can still remember the World Open island style…
Shabana knew he had a great chance,
With Ramy’s fateful circumstance,
And winning would keep him number one for quite a while…
With obstacles making players shiver,
And Robert Edwards’ speeches making us all quiver,
Impossible to ignore,
How dumb is the glass floor?
I’m not too sure if Yasser cried,
When Bradley handed him his backside,
And Julian’s win left me a little bug-eyed,
The day, Squash was truly world-wide!

Chorus:
So my, my! These athletes mystify,
You have to be amazing simply to qualify!
All the fitness levels which must be applied,
Playing squash is the best way to get high,
…playing squash is the best way to get high…

Round one caused some great upsets,
Ashour beat Grant but they’d prefer to forget,
The accusations came thick and fast…
Then another Egyptian called Omar,
Looks to be another potential star,
Poor ol’ Olli was fully outclassed…
The veteran Gough then beat Beachill,
How can the old man keep up his skill?
Kemp took good care of Beng Hee,
With a tough three-one victory,
Willstrop came back from the dead,
With LJ 2-0 up and 6-1 ahead,
And El Hindi squeaked through without too much bloodshed,
The day, Squash was truly world-wide!

Chorus

Let’s move on to the second round,
With Amr and Stewart on the battleground,
Shabana struggles though in five…
Seeing Alex Gough shock the world again,
Beating El Hindi who has been top ten,
How long can the Welshman stay alive?
Lincou’s win we could anticipate,
Palmer sealed Peter Barker’s fate,
Mosaad couldn’t make a repeat,
But James had another comeback feat!
White was lucky to have saved two match balls,
The unlucky Azlan can blame the glass floor,
And Gaultier went to town on Hisham Ashour,
The day, Squash was truly world-wide!

Chorus

Now the quarters is where the big boys shine,
The three top seeds showing an ominous sign,
But Willstrop just ran out of fuel…
He got cleaned up quick by Nick Matthew
Which was expected after how he got through,
His two 5-setters were really borderline cruel…
I lost count on how many nicks Amr chopped,
It doesn’t appear he can be stopped,
Maybe Greg has a bag of new tricks,
After his heartbreaking loss in O-six!
For Alex Gough it was the end of the line,
He gets better with age like a first-rate wine,
He said one more year will do him just fine,
The day, Squash was truly world-wide!

Chorus

On paper the semis could go either way,
So sit back, relax and get your chardonnay,
The matches should be a real treat…
The first match was supposed to be a real war,
Both Amr and David had been there before,
Each wanting a World title for a three-peat…
Apart from a second game meltdown,
Shabana took a step closer to the crown,
And then it was England versus France,
This looked tough to see who’d advance,
As it turned out, Nick was completely wrecked,
It wasn’t that his game was really suspect,
But more that Greg’s squash was almost perfect,
The day, Squash was truly world-wide!

Chorus

One more match and this verse is done,
It’s to see who’ll end up as world number one,
The Frenchie looks like a popular pick…
He hadn’t even dropped a single game,
Nor could be hungrier for the fame,
He’ll have to overcome some Egyptian magic…
He led four to one for an excellent start,
Then he lost his momentum and his world fell apart,
His heels were stapled to the glass floor,
Letting Amr smack all the winners galore!
Poor Gaultier could not stop the trend,
When the three-love pasting came to a merciful end,
Shabana was left standing as the living legend,
The day, Squash was truly world-wide!

So, my-my, Amr has justified,
Why he’s world number one and his lead magnifies,
He wields his racquet like a born samurai,
Playing squash is the best way to get high…
…Playing squash is the best way to get high!

Endurance World Open Bermuda 2007 $175k, 25-Nov to 01-Dec
Round One Sun/Mon Nov 25/26	Round Two Tue/Wed Nov 27/28	Quarters Thu Nov 29	Semis Fri Nov 30	Final Sat Dec 01
[1] Amr Shabana (Egy) 11/9, 11/8, 7/11, 11/9 (54m) Renan Lavigne (Fra)	Amr Shabana 8/11, 11/4, 11/2, 9/11, 11/4 (65m) Stewart Boswell	Amr Shabana 10/12, 11/6, 12/10, 11/5 (64m) Thierry Lincou	Amr Shabana 11/6, 3/11, 11/5, 11/5 (67m) David Palmer	Amr Shabana 11/7 11/4, 11/6 (42m) Gregory Gaultier
[12] Stewart Boswell (Aus) 11/5, 11/3, 11/4 (25m) James Stout (Ber)
[5] Thierry Lincou (Fra) 11/5, 11/3, 5/11, 11/0 (42m) [Q] Julian Illingworth (Usa)	Thierry Lincou 12/10, 11/5, 11/5 (32m) Jonathan Kemp
[15] Ong Beng Hee (Mas) 11/8, 11/7, 5/11, 11/4 (48m) [Q] Jonathan Kemp (Eng)
[3] David Palmer (Aus) 11/4, 11/4, 11/5 (25m) [Q] Shawn Delierre (Can)	David Palmer 12/10, 11/7, 11/9 (59m) Peter Barker	David Palmer 11/5, 11/4, 11/4 (41m) Alex Gough
[11] Peter Barker (Eng) 8/11, 11/8, 13/11, 11/5 (76m) [Q] Bradley Ball (Eng)
[8] Lee Beachill (Eng) 4/11, 11/8, 5/11, 11/4, 11/5 (74m) Alex Gough (Wal)	Alex Gough 11/1, 7/11, 11/4, 11/7 (73m) Wael El Hindi
[9] Wael El Hindi (Egy) 9/11, 11/6, 5/11, 12/10, 13/11 (99m) [Q] Eric Galvez (Mex)
[Q] Omar Mosaad (Egy) 1/11, 11/4, 11/9, 11/4 (38m) [14] Olli Tuominen (Fin)	Omar Mosaad 11/6, 11/9, 11/7 (46m) Nick Matthew	Nick Matthew 11/8, 11/6, 11/4 (60m) James Willstrop	Nick Matthew 1/6, 11/4, 11/8 (58m) Gregory Gaultier
Joey Barrington (Eng) 11/1, 8/11, 11/6, 11/2 (70m) [7] Nick Matthew Eng)
Cameron Pilley (Aus) 11/8, 11/6, 11/8 (45m) [12] Mohammed Abbas (Egy)	Mohammed Abbas 3/11 9/11, 11/7, 11/8, 11/5 (91m) James Willstrop
Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) 10/12, 8/11, 11/8, 11/9, 11/3 (93m) [4] James Willstrop (Eng)
Shahier Razik (Can) 11/13, 11/6, 9/11, 11/3, 11/6 (75m) [13] Azlan Iskandar (Mas)	Azlan Iskandar 7/11, 11/5, 7/11, 13/11, 11/6 (76m) John White	John White 12/10, 11/6, 11/5 (55m) Gregory Gaultier
[Q] Alister Walker (Eng) 11/8, 11/4, 11/5 (32m) [6] John White (Sco)
Hisham Ashour (Egy) 11/7, 11/7, 4/11, 11/8 (45m) [16] Adrian Grant (Eng)	Hisham Ashour 11/4, 11/8, 11/4 (26m) Gregory Gaultier
[Q] Daryl Selby (Eng) 11/4, 11/7, 11/0 (42m) [2] Gregory Gaultier (Fra)

Qualifying:

Finals 24-Nov:

Alister Walker (Eng) bt Miguel Rodriguez (Col)       11/5, 11/9, 11/9 (45m)
Eric Galvez (Mex) bt Ryan Cuskelly (Aus)               11/9, 11/8, 11/8 (56m)
Bradley Ball (Eng) bt Yasser El Halaby (Egy)           11/3, 11/3, 11/3 (25m)
Shawn Delierre (Can) bt Scott Arnold (Aus)            12/10, 11/5, 5/11, 7/11, 11/5 (77m)
Julian Illingworth (Usa) bt Omar Elborolossy (Egy) 11/8, 11/5, 11/7 (48m)
Jonathan Kemp (Eng) bt Kashif Shuja (Nzl)             7/11, 11/4, 11/2, 5/11, 11/4 (43m)
Omar Mosaad (Egy) bt Saurav Ghosal (Ind)             11/5, 9/11, 9/11, 11/4, 11/6 (67m)
Daryl Selby (Eng) bt Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy)             11/4, 11/7, 13/11 (56m)

Qualifying Round One:

Alister Walker (Eng)                                           bye
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Col) bt Nick Kyme (Ber) 11/5, 11/8, 11/3 (24m)
Eric Galvez (Mex) bt Melrindo Caines (Ber)             11/0, 11/2, 11/5 (15m)
Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) bt Matthew Giuffre (Can)         12/10, 11/9, 11/5 (48m)

Bradley Ball (Eng) bt Chris Gordon (Usa)                11/5, 11/4, 11/5 (28m)
Yasser El Halaby (Egy) bt Morten Sorensen (Den) 11/9, 11/5, 7/11, 11/9 (42m)
Scott Arnold (Aus) bt Liam Kenny (Irl)                  11/9, 11/5, 7/11, 11/9 (42m)
Shawn Delierre (Can) bt Jesse Engelbrecht (Rsa)    11/8, 11/8, 10/12, 7/11, 11/9 (69m)

Julian Illingworth (Usa) bt Patrick Foster (Irl)        11/6, 11/4, 11/8 (35m)
Omar Elborolossy (Egy) bt Julien Balbo (Fra)        11/6, 11/5, 8/11, 11/7 (62m)
Kashif Shuja (Nzl) bt Chase Toogood (Ber)            11/6, 11/6, 11/3 (24m)
Jonathan Kemp (Eng)                                        bye

Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Dick Lau (Hkg)                  11/4, 11/3, 11/5 (24m)
Omar Mosaad (Egy) bt Joe Chapman (Bvi)             11/2, 11/5, 11/7 (18m)
Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy) bt Bernardo Samper (Col) 11/4, 11/9, 11/9 (31m)
Daryl Selby (Eng)                                                 bye

STOP PRESS 20-Nov:
Ramy Ashour, Karim Darwish and Stacey Ross (qual) withdraw injured - redraw.
Borja Golan also out, so Adrian Grant is 16th seed, Joey Barrington moves into main draw