A quick report on the Shanghai Squash Masters which was held on January 31 at the JC Mandarin squash courts. This competition was set to decide just who was the best squash player in Shanghai and as such it was open to only the top 16 players in Shanghai. Unfortunately, the question is still open as one of the pre-tournament favourites, Mark Thomas, was ruled out after picking up a nasty back injury in a warm-up match against eventual finalist Michael Oh.
All matches were in an abbreviated Òbest of threeÓ American scoring format and players were put in qualifing groups of four with the top two in each group going through to the quarter finals. The marquee game in the group stages saw lumber jack Randy Bishop seeing off 4th seed Andrew Williams in a physical nasty affair. Randy was turned over by Rupert Hoogerwoof something or other in the semi and made himself the only non seed through to the semi. The first of the Semis saw a tired 2nd seed William Choo getting beaten by Fresh-faced Harvard graduate Michael Oh in two games. We did warn Singaporean William that an all-night session in MGM was not the best preparation for a big tournament. Aussie Esden Lee (ex-world ranked) then saw off an enthusiastic Rupert.
Experince showed over youth in the final with Esden controlling the game against Michael Oh to win in two. All in all, a great day with still a few unanswered questions.
You can win absolutely nothing if you can guess who wrote this squash brief. Was it:
A: Mark Thomas
B: Mark Thomas or
C: Mark Thomas
(Please forward you answer to the editor)
