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Squash: James Willstrop column January 26
The tournament of all tournaments, billed as the biggest spectator squash event in the world is well under way in New York City.
Squash's grandest venue, a hall in the middle of Grand Central Station, is playing host to the Tournament of Champions for the 13th time and it is not merely the richest tournament in the world, but in many other areas probably the best.
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It has a magical quality that continues to attract the players year after year – most would admit that squash doesn't get better than this.
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To play a sport in what is one of the world's iconic buildings, in an electric atmosphere, to packed crowds every night, makes all the training worthwhile.
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The squash has matched the setting. Leeds-based Alister Walker, pictured below, was so close to getting the better of world champion Amr Shabana on Sunday afternoon in a pulsating, if patchy encounter.
The two took the match to a fifth game, where it ended 12-10 in the Egyptian's favour, but Walker can be buoyed by the fact that he is a consistent challenger to the best.
Nick Matthew, from Sheffield, took advantage of the fact that Australian Stewart Boswell had to concede at 2-0, to move through to the quarters and I took a comfortable win over rising Egyptian Ali Anwar Reda.
Ramy Ashour, Karim Darwish and Gregory Gaultier all moved into the quarter-finals, the latter producing a highly-entertaining display against a young Colombian, Miguel Angel Rodriguez.
Both players are small and outrageously quick around the court at times and the rallies brought gasps from the audience.
It has been a spectacle so far and it should get better. The line-up for the quarters is Karim Darwish v David Palmer, who beat another promising Englishman, Adrian Waller; myself v Amr Shabana; Nick Matthew v Wael EL Hindi; and Ramy Ashour v Gregory Gaultier.
incidentally, both Ashour and Gaultier have held the world number one spot in the past three months, yet because of when the draw was made, find themselves up against one another in the quarters.
On the women's tour, England's Alison Waters took the Greenwich Open title, just outside New York, beating Raneem El Walily from Egypt in the final and Leeds-based ex-world champion Vanessa Atkinson in the semis.
It has been a promising start to the new squash year and hopefully there is more good stuff to come in the following days.
If anyone wants to access reports or results from the event in New York, the best website to check is squashsite.co.uk
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
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Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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