Egypt’s Raneem El Weleily has made her debut in the top 5 of the new WSA Rankings.

The 23 year old had a breakthrough second half of 2011, winning the Carol Weymuller Open and reaching the final of the Hong Kong Open. She started 2012 in equally formidable form by winning the Greenwich Open, beating New Zealand’s unseeded Joelle King in the final.


Full article at www.squashsite.co.uk

Raneem El Weleily triumphs at Greenwich Open all harrow final

The final of the Women's Professional Singles - The Glo Greenwich Open Sunday afternoon was a gripping display of high quality professional squash with World No.7 Raneem El Weleily from Egypt taking on the in form Kiwi - World No.11 Joelle King.


The match was a contrast of styles with King, in a show of strength, using powerful volleys and low thumping drives to unsettle her more fancied opponent El Weleily, who carries the classic attacking Egyptian traits of shooting from everywhere on the court.

The match began at a blistering pace with King pounding her length, determined to stamp her authority on proceedings. Raneem weathered the storm early, deftly moving King to the front routinely to keep her off balance and force an opening in the points.

The quality of squash cannot be understated with both players making some incredible recoveries to keep themselves in the rallies. Trading point for point in the first couple of games, El Weleily edged her way to a 2 games to zero lead by consistently finding the right attacking option as Joelle struggled to find her rhythm on the short ball against her more nimble opponent.

King regrouped in the third, getting off to a quick start courtesy of some uncharacteristic errors from the Egyptian and some well executed and timely volleys.



With the game score at 2-1 El Weleily, regrouped to structure her points much better, building her attack more patiently. A barrage of hold and flicks kept the tall Kiwi twisting and turning in the fourth as the Egyptian claimed her first Greenwich Open Title winning the admiration of an enthralled and appreciative gallery. King, a bridesmaid for the 2nd year in succession can take heart from a solid week and will no doubt be back again next year to hopefully make it third time lucky.
 
Article courtesy of Liam Kenny at the Field Club of Greenwich

Gould and Mudge Show Their Class

Semi final action in the Chilton North American Open at the GCC saw defending champions - Ben Gould and Damien Mudge take on Johnny Smith and Preston Quick. The Aussie duo who are the defending NAO Champions were composed and calculated in their attack early in the match injecting the necessary pace at the right time to close the important points.

Despite Quick's clever angles and Smith's tenacity to stay in the points, the result was never in doubt as World No.1 pairing Gould/Mudge cruised to a 15/10, 15/8, 15/9 victory and book their place in tonight's final.

The second semi-final pitted four players who recently split and reformed with opposite playing partners. The familiar pairings of Leach/Jenson v Badan/Mathur were flipped upside down recently with Leach/Mathur now playing against Jenson/Badan.

The atmosphere was tense and the crowd intrigued as to who would come out on top with these newly formed pairings.

From the first point Jenson/Badan made their intentions very clear by keeping EVERY ball on the right wall to Leach. Mathur was completely shut out of the points helplessly looking on as Leach battled against an onslaught of high sweeping lobs mixed with power crosscourts from the opposition. This tactic bred success as Jenson/Badan took a 2-0 lead with Mathur only able to poach occasionally with deadly effect.

The third game saw Leech and Mathur control the points much better as the tournament drawcard Mathur finessed his way with a mix of power and clever angles to help his team to a 15-3 score. The forth game was a nail biter with the two teams going point for point until they were eventually tied 14-14. The final point was a series of drawn out tense, patient let calls until finally Mathur gave up an uncharacteristic error with a drop in the tin - perhaps the lack of action on the left wall contributing to his untimely error.

Jenson/Badan will need to be at their best tonight to trouble the top seeds of Mudge/Gould, but their impressive form should provide patrons with a fantastic spectacle tonight at the GCC.





Summary of Results



NAO SEMI FINALS

Mudge/Gould def Quick/Smith 15-10, 15-8, 15-9



Jenson/Badan def Leach/Mathur 15-6, 15-9, 2-15, 15-14



PRO AM RESULTS



RED DIVISION

GREER/BADAN def MUDGE/GEORGE



BLUE DIVISION

ROBBIN/RUSSELL def HAYDEN/MATHUR



WHITE DIVISION

HOPKINS/WYANT def BARRETT/BASSETT
 
Article courtesy of Liam Kenny at the Field Club of Greenwich

Tania Bailey Wins Second and Sustains Injury at Manor Open

Tania Bailey (third from left) after winning second place at the 2011 BSBA Boston Open

English squash player Tania Bailey had to concede during the fifth and final match against Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) at the 2011 Manor Open due to an unknown injury she sustained during the fourth.

After surpassing Belen Etchechoury (ARG), Nada Elkalaawy (EGY), and Birgit Coufal (AUT), Bailey found herself facing the eighty-third ranked Perry who won two matches pushing the game into a fifth. But something was noticeably different about Bailey who arduously chose to cut the match short, which meant taking home second-place.

Bailey is no stranger to injury having torn a hole in her knee last year during the 2011 Women's World Team Championship in Palmerston, North New Zealand. The ensuing surgery forced her to spend the majority of the year in recovery. Yet she managed to make a triumphant return in September at the Carol Weymuller Open where she won first place and her sixth WISPA world title.

No news on the severity of her injury or how it will affect her early appearances on the 2012 WISPA World Tour schedule. Harrow Sports wishes her a speedy recovery.

Manor Open 2011

1^st Round: vs. Belen Etchechoury (ARG) 11/4, 11/7, 11/2

Quarter-Finals: vs. Nada Elkalaawy (EGY) 11/5, 11/2, 11/4

Semi-Finals: vs. Birgit Coufal (AUT) 11/4, 8/11, 11/4, 11/1

Final: vs. Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 8/11, 11/8, 8/11, 12/10, 8/5 ret.

Brown Rises to #5 and Weleily to #7 in WISPA World Rankings

Brown (Right) v. Duncalf, Photo credit: worldsquash.org

Last month was an exciting time for Harrow’s women squash players as a few managed to take home hard-earned titles, and many succeeded in raising their Women’s International Squash Player’s Association World rankings.

Raneem El Weliely (EGY) continued to prove herself as runner-up to Nicol David (MAS)at the Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open, where Kasey Brown managed to reach round two in the tournament, and number five on WISPA’s world rankings. 

England’s Tania Bailey won her sixth WISPA title and first tournament since 2009 at the Coronation London Open last week after breezing through Farah Abdel Mequid (EGY), Tesni Evans (WAL), Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG), and Cigany Sillevis (NED).

Tania Bailey, Photo credit: squashsite.co.uk

1^st round: Tania Bailey (ENG) v. Cigany Sillevis (NED) 11-3, 11-3, 11,-3

Quarter-Finals: v. Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 11-9, 11-9, 11-6

Semi-finals: V. Tesni Evans (WAL) 11-5, 11-5, 11-5

Final: v. Farah Abdel Mequid (EGY) 9-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-2

Korea’s Ahn Eun Chan, also took home her second trophy this year by winning the Women’s Indian Summer Tournament in St. Paul  a mere sixth months after capturing  the biggest WISPA World Squash Tour title ever won by a Korean at the Women’s Black Knight Open in Perth, Australia.

Ahn Chan (R) Photo credit: squashsite.co.uk

1^st Round: Maria Fernanda Rivera (MEX) 11-4, 11-23, 11-3

Quarter-finals: Celia Allamargot (FRA) 7-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6

Semi-Finals: Alex Clark (SCO) 7-11, 12-10, 11-4, 10-12, 14-2

Final: Zephanie Curgenven (ENG( 11-12, 11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6

As for the rest of Harrow’s players, they succeeded in substantially raising their position on the squash charts. See below for honorable mentions.

Updated WISPA World Rankings		Nov	Dec	+
Kasey Brown	AUS	6	5	1
Raneem El Weleily	EGY	8	7	1
Samantha Terán	MEX	17	13	4
Gaby Huber	SUI	32	30	2
Victoria Lust	ENG	31	30	1
Coline Aumard	FRA	71	56	15
Alexandra Norman	CAN	64	63	1
Samantha Cornett	CAN	46	44	2
Olga Ertlova	CZE	49	48	1
Ahn Eun Chan	KOR	63	53	10
Megan Craig	NZL	123	84	39

Harrow Sports Welcomes Chris Fuller

Harrow Sports is proud to announce that it has recently signed two-time British Junior Champion Chris Fuller as its newest sponsored squash player.

The 20-year-old athlete, who hails from Nottingham, UK has been a dedicated squash player since the age of 12 and quickly rose through the ranks to eventually join the Professional Squash Association’s world tour in November of 2009.

But Fuller’s ascent was not without a few setbacks. In 2005 and 2006 he sustained two injuries that kept him on the side lines for a short-time. Yet he managed to recover and win the British Junior Open under 17 category in 2006, and the British Junior Open under 19 category in 2009.

Thus far, his career highlights include being a 2 time European Junior Team Gold Medalist, Sao Paulo Open 2010 Semi Finalist, and Progetto Open 2010 Finalist.  

Harrow Sports looks forward to supporting Fuller's promising career. 

National Field Hockey Festival Starts Up

If you’d rather watch sports than fight crowds on Black Friday, keep your eyes on the National Field Hockey Festival taking place November 25-28 at the Reach 11 Sports Complex in Phoenix, AZ.

The annual USA Field Hockey event is expected to attract more than 230 club teams, 3,500 amateur athletes from the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean and 4,000 visitors. Also in attendance of the four-day showcase will be Olympic athletes, college recruiters, and Harrow Sports supplying the official event merchandise.

Next year, expect to catch all the action in Palm Beach, FL because USA Field Hockey recently announced it is moving the world’s largest amateur field hockey event to Wellington County November 2012.