WORLD SQUASH NEWS

Top Guns Focus On Qatar Glory

Doha, capital city of the oil-rich Gulf state Qatar, welcomes the world's top squash players this week to compete in the Qatar Classic, the richest joint event of the year.

Boasting a joint prize fund of $225,000, the 2003 Qatar Classic gets underway at the Khalifa Squash Complex on Sunday (30 November), with both the men's and women's finals taking place on Friday 5th December.

Peter Nicol, the world No1 from England, is seeded to retain the men's title he won in 2001 and 2002 - in both cases overcoming Australia's David Palmer in the finals.  Palmer, the reigning World Open and British Open champion who is seeded three, is drawn to meet Nicol in this year's semi-finals - but if he were to reach the Doha climax, he would celebrate his 30th appearance in a PSA Tour final.

Palmer, however, has a tough projected quarter-final clash with Canada's fifth seed Jonathon Power, a popular figure on the all-glass Doha showcourt where he has won both a Qatar International title in 1997 and the World Open trophy in 1998.  Power, winner of the Canadian Classic and runner-up in the Canadian Open this month, faces England's Nick Matthew in the first round.

Nicol, who will be eager to put behind him his shock first round dismissal in last week's Canadian Classic, faces Australia's world No18 Paul Price in the first round, while Palmer takes on a qualifier.

Scotland's John White, a semi-finalist in the previous two Qatar Classics, is the No2 seed and also meets a qualifier in the opening round.  His scheduled semi-final opponent is fourth-seeded Frenchman Thierry Lincou, the most consistent player on the PSA Tour with semi-final appearances (at least) in all seven events in which he has competed this year.

New Zealand's world No1 Carol Owens is seeded to take the women's title, repeating her success six months ago in Qatar when she lifted the WISPA World Grand Prix Finals title.  Owens, winner of seven WISPA World Tour titles over the past twelve months, is scheduled to meet USA's No2 seed Natalie Grainger in what would be the favourite's 50th appearance in a WISPA final.

The top seed takes on a qualifier in the first round, while Grainger meets Hong Kong's Rebecca Chiu.  Owens' projected semi-final opponent is Rachael Grinham, the third seed from Australia who achieved her career-first victory over the New Zealander in the semi-finals of the British Open in October, en-route to winning the title for the first time. 

The other semi-final predicted by the seedings matches up Grainger with England's Cassie Jackman, the fourth seed who lifted the US Open title in October, beating Owens in the final.

At the conclusion of the 2003 Qatar Classic, both sets of players head east for 'world' glory - Nicol leading his party to Lahore in Pakistan for the Bank Alfalah Men's World Open which starts on 14th December, and Owens her group to Hong Kong to compete in the Credit Suisse Privilege Women's World Open beginning on 9th December.

Men's 1st round:
[1] Peter Nicol (ENG) v Paul Price (AUS)
[11] Amr Shabana (EGY) v Shahier Razik (CAN)
[6] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) v Mohammed Abbas (EGY)
[9] Lee Beachill (ENG) v Qualifier
[3] David Palmer (AUS) v Qualifier
[12] Joseph Kneipp (AUS) v Alex Gough (WAL)
[5] Jonathon Power (CAN) v Nick Matthew (ENG)
[14] Mansoor Zaman (PAK) v Qualifier
[10] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Mark Chaloner (ENG)
[7] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v Adrian Grant (ENG)
[16] Graham Ryding (CAN) v Qualifier
[4] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v Qualifier
[13] Martin Heath (SCO) v Qualifier
[8] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Omar Elborolossy (EGY)
[15] Simon Parke (ENG) v Qualifier
[2] John White (SCO) v Qualifier

Women's 1st round
[1] Carol Owens (NZL) v Qualifier
[12] Stephanie Brind (ENG) v Sharon Wee (MAS)
[8] Tania Bailey (ENG) v Qualifier
[13] Fiona Geaves (ENG) v Pamela Nimmo (SCO)
[3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v Latasha Khan (USA)
[15] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) v Qualifier
[6] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) v Qualifier
[9] Rebecca Macree (ENG) v Qualifier
[10] Jenny Tranfield (ENG) v Nicol David (MAS)
[7] Natalie Grinham (AUS) v Qualifier
[16] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v Annelize Naude (NED)
[4] Cassie Jackman (ENG) v Qualifier
[14] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v Qualifier
[5] Linda Charman (ENG) v Isabelle Stoehr (FRA)
[11] Vicky Botwright (ENG) v Madeline Perry (IRL)
[2] Natalie Grainger (USA) v Rebecca Chiu (HKG)