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Posts Tagged ‘2013/14 Season’

End of Squash Season Party Anyone?

Food4africa UK is the charity that’s raising funds to build a squash court in rural South Africa with squash legends, so why not come and support.

For details see http://food4africauk.org/projects/the-food-court/

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DLWE v Western 2 – Away (Match Report) 5th February 2014

PaulHannahLogoThe big relegation clashes just keep on coming and tonight I thought we had a good chance at home to Western 2, that was until I spoke to Big Davie on the way to the match and he told me we had no chance at home to them…… as it is an away match! (turn the car round!)

When I arrived Big Dave (Craig) was making his way onto court against Derek Manson at No.3 (due to stuffing Sean in a mini-league last week). However this looked like a position too far as he got cuffed in the 1st game and well beaten in the 2nd. The main problem was that Derek was all over Dave’s cross courts and controlling the match. The 3rd was much the same and at 9-3 down it was surely only a matter of time for Dave. “A good one to win!” was the best we could think of to say as it became 10-5 match ball.

But hang on Dave got the next point, and the next, and the next! And a few rallies later it was a tie break and then it was game to DLWE!

To see the full article press ‘read more’ below or click here. To see all DLWE articles got to Current Match Reports by clicking here

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DLWE v Glasgow Uni – Home (Match Report) 29th January 2014

PaulHannahLogoWell this was a real relegation clash last night and with an injury and a missing player I was pretty sure that if the University had a strong team then our goose was cooked (mind you our missing player was Richard so really we were stronger than usual!). The Uni however seemed to have even more missing players than us! So with just 8 points separating the teams, could this be a season changer?

First on was Sara (McDonald) at No.5 v James McAllister. Sara was dominant this week and she controlled the match to the back of the court. James had trouble digging the ball out, with Sara’s trademark great length ™ so that’s where she put the ball every time. After winning the 1st game 11-5 one of the club members watching (Bob) turned to me and said:

“Oh yes, I forgot that you 1st team players aren’t fit enough to play up to 15 points!”

Sara’s rhythm wasn’t upset too much apart from getting clattered a couple of times and she ended up winning 3-0.

Doug turned up at this point and didn’t bother with “hello”, he just turned to Big Davie Craig and said:

“Wow! Dave what’s up? You don’t look like a tramp tonight, you’re actually looking quite good!”

On at the same time as Sara, was Sean (Norris) against Nobby (as everyone calls him). I said to him after the match:

“Why do they call you Nobby?” to which Nobby replied:

“I don’t know.”

“What’s your real name?”

“Nobuhide Ostudo.”

“Aaaaaah!”

To see the full article press ‘read more’ below or click here. To see all DLWE articles got to Current Match Reports by clicking here

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DLWE v Western 1 – Away (Match Report) 22nd January 2014

January 23, 2014 3 comments

PaulHannahLogoWestern 1 tonight away and we got a massive 4 points last time so what could we do tonight?

The team got a 6.15pm start so when I arrived we were off to a flyer. The No.4’s had already finished and the No.5’s were 2 games in. Unfortunately this was as far as the good news went because Dave (Craig) had lost 3-0 at No.4 and Sara (McDonald) was 2-0 down at No.5. Mind you Sara was playing Dunsy (Graham Dunns) and so this was no massive shock as the big Grinch (Dunsey not Sara!) was moving well and putting good pace and length on the ball. Sara played well in the 3rd game I thought; Sean & I shouted encouragement whenever we could, like “Come on Sara, you’ve got him beat!” and “He’s flagging Sara!” – unfortunately he wasn’t flagging enough and despite Sara trying, unwisely, to go right through him on a couple of occasions, on her way to the ball, all she got for her troubles was a couple of bruises! Good effort thought and Dunsey knew that if he let up for a moment he was in trouble.

By the way how difficult is it to pronounce Sara??? Dave calls her “Sarah” and Sean calls her “Zara” despite me telling them every week! Must be an age thing on Sean’s part, not sure what Dave’s excuse is? By the way Dave didn’t want to talk about his 3-0 drubbing by Andy Philips, so I thought I’d bide my time and get the story later.

Doug (Macmillan) went on next against Steven Halliday at No.1 and as he’d got chopped by Steve at the home fixture (2, 6 & 2) I wasn’t optimistic for his chances. As I went to watch the start of the game Dave (in his kit), Sean (not in his kit) and Sara (in her kit) all passed me on their way to the changing rooms – all claiming to be on their way to change. So I arrived at the court and as no one else was there I started marking duties. About three minutes later Dave (in his kit), Sean (not in his kit) and Sara (in her kit) all arrived back on the balcony to watch the match (I’d been stitched up like a kipper!).

To see the full article press ‘read more’ below or click here. To see all DLWE articles got to Current Match Reports by clicking here

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Tournament of Champions 2014

January 21, 2014 3 comments

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Amr Shabana is the 2014 New York ‘Tournament of Champions’ winner.

In an amazing run he beat Gregory Gaultier (No.1 seed) in the Final at Grand Central Station 3-0 (11-4  13-11 11-8) to claim his 3rd ToC title  – and the last one was 8 years ago!

And on the way he beat the seeds 2 & 4 in Nick Matthew and James Wilstrop to seal an amazing win for the No.7 seed.

Nicol David beat Laura Massaro in  the women’s W.S.A. final to take her 1st ToC championship and she was delighted to do it saying “I get goose bumps every time I walk into Grand Central.”

It’s great to see 2 legends of the game on the top of their games.

To see both draw’s click here

To see some more about the tournament click here

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DLWE v Newlands 1 – Home (Match Report) 15th January 2014

January 16, 2014 1 comment

PaulHannahLogoNewlands again this week and this time the Newlands Foreign Legion 1st team came calling! And we were looking to do better than the 18-2 result from the 1st half.

At No.5 Sara (McDonald)  was on first against Malky Watt (we’d strengthened the team this week by dropping Richard!). Malky was playing as well as ever and getting everything back (as ever) so this was always going to be a tough one for Sara. Malky took the 1st game, but then Sara got a really good lead in the 2nd game and managed to hold on to win this one. However Malky started to ramp up the pace & pressure and won the next two to win 3-1 (but already we’d gotten a massive 1 point on the board!). So what could the rest of the team do to build on that; was the question? Well nothing – was the answer!

Dave (Craig) went on at the same time against Angus Woodward at No.4 and I didn’t see this one as I was marking, but it seems that the big man was given a torrid time of it by Angus who dominated the game from the start. I saw the last game and it was evident that Big Dave just wasn’t able to get into his rhythm and so lost the 3rd and the match.

Doug (Macmillan) was on against Scotland’s No.2 Greg Lobban. Well if the rest of us were up against it, it was x10 for Dougie against the Harrow man who is No.82 in the World Rankings by the way!

To see the full article press ‘read more’ below or click here. To see all DLWE articles got to Current Match Reports by clicking here

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DLWE v Newlands 2 – Away (Match Report) 8th January 2014

January 9, 2014 1 comment

PaulHannahLogo2014 eh! I wonder what the year will have in store for us? Well there’s the Commonwealth Games squash tournament (nice of them to go to all that trouble just for squash!?!?) and then there is that big team tournament in September, what’s it called again – oh yes the Euro Club Championships. And don’t forget the big vote that will decide our very future……. will squash get into the 2024 Olympics?Anyway enough of the big questions – Wednesday West Squash is back! Ya dancer! And as ever we all turn up, having eaten and drunk too much over the festive period, dreading playing the first match and getting thrashed. That is until we realise that our opponent is thinking exactly the same thing!

Having said that a very thin and fit looking James Singh wished me a Happy New Year and it didn’t look like he’d enjoyed Christmas & New Year as much as me! I did win the 1st game though and quite comfortably as well – James was going for a winner very early in every rally and once I’d been beaten about half a dozen times I started to get wise to it! So when I got to the 1st attacking shot I forced a load of errors and eventually took the game.

To see the full article press ‘read more’ below or click here. To see all DLWE articles got to Current Match Reports by clicking here

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2014 Edinburgh Open BSPA & WSA Event 23rd-26th January

Poster 2014

 

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DLWE v Giffnock– Home (Match Report) 11th December 2013

December 12, 2013 Leave a comment

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With injuries and players missing there was no real chance of any points tonight against the league leaders who have only dropped 12 points in total so far this season. So no pressure!

Sean (Norris) was back in the team this week at number 4 v Owen Hadden and was chopped 3-0. It was funny to see him play down the lefties forehand side though and I especially liked his slow high shots down the middle! It was also amusing to see Sean arguing with the umpire for quite a while about whether a ball was out or not and just as the marker was about to give him the benefit of the doubt he said “Actually I couldn’t really see it; I was just trying to get my breath back.”

To see the full article press ‘read more’ below or click here. To see all DLWE articles got to Current Match Reports by clicking here

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My 2013 West Masters

December 10, 2013 Leave a comment

Another great West Masters and some fantastic Squash to see, from the winners Mark Ford, Peter Buchan, Mark James, Chris Holt, Robin Ridley, John Howie, Iain Ross, Vincent Taylor & Eunice Bond

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Emilio Fazzi ably directed the tournament again this year (his last year in charge) and the two days ran as smoothly as ever.

I played the Over 40s tournament and initially found it strange playing the old ‘Hi-Ho’ system of scoring, but you soon get used to it again.

However it’s the camaraderie that is the focal point of the Masters squash for me. It’s great to return every time and still you know most people there and spend the 2 days not only playing some tough games, but renewing acquaintances and friendships.

Could do with it being over a week though – with rest days in-between!

If you want to see all of the results click here (Over 35-40-45-50-55-60-65-70 & L50)

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