2015

Massaro and Elshorbagy taking Qatar trophies!

It was England’s Laura Massaro and Egypt’s Mohamed Elshorbagy who have been successful in the finals of the Qatar Classic 2015 to take their big trophies at the winners presentation.

First on court it was Massaro, the World No3 against the 20-year-old World No.8 Nour El Sherbini from Egypt. After triumphing at the the Delaware Investments U.S. Open, just two weeks ago, Massaro, the 32-year-old, continued to enjoy the form-of-her life as she came through a breath-taking five-game 73 minute battle with Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini to take the 11-8, 12-14, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9 victory. “There’s a lot of great names on that trophy so it’s a great feeling to know that my name will go along side them now,” said Massaro.

Afterwards Egyptian Men’s World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy took on French World No3 Greg Gaultier. The 24-year-old Elshorbagy took revenge of his defeat at the U.S. Open semi-final and assured a 11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10 the 8-years-elder Gaultier.

Elshorbagy reached the final without dropping a single game all tournament and capitalized on his freshness to pounce on a tired looking Gaultier, who had tough times with Karim Abdel Gawad in the quarter-final, recovering from a 0-2 deficit, and against Mazen Hesham in the semi-finals. “I’m just glad I was able to play the whole week here and I’m glad I could win the title just one week before the World Championship. It’s an important win and for sure it’s a confidence boost for me for that tournament”, Elshorbagy said.


ASB Takes Squash Development Into Football!

Leading squash court manufacture ASB has taken its pioneering glass floor concept successfully into the world’s most popular sport football.

Earlier this month, Nike installed “the coolest football pitch ever” on the roof top of the Bikini Mall in Berlin for the finals of the German Nike Football X Cup and the European Nike Football X Cup. Furthermore, Nike demonstrated its brand performance of the 2 Champions League finalists (FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin) and the event attracted several stars, including German World Cup hero Miroslav Klose and Brazilian’s soccer legend and two-times World Cup winner Ronaldo (Ronaldo Nazário de Lima) – who both tested the pitch and picked 3 of the players each to compete in a celebrity-studded tournament.

The arena, custom-built for the 3-day event, featured a 150 sq metre sports floor football pitch – equipped with an LED screen (featured more than 15 million LEDs – 10,000 per square metre) over the entire surface. The 10m x 15m pitch (pictured above) was created by sports floor specialists ASB – incorporating the technology of the “ASB GlassFloor”, the state-of-the-art squash court floor recently launched by the German company.

“The result of the cutting-edge technology is breathtaking,” said ASB MD Christof Babinsky. The ‘screen’ was used to imitate several different surfaces – like sand, grass, concrete, gravel and even outer space. The score was displayed live on the floor and different graphic animations in foul, goal or attempt situations made the fast game even more exciting”, added Babinsky.

This initiative follows the recent announcement of the installation of the 500th ASB “Movable Wall Court” facility. This squash court development provide maximum flexibility for sports centres, where walls can easily be moved either to extend singles squash courts into doubles courts, or convert a dedicated squash facility into an open arena for multi-sport usage.

The glass floor development now offers additional benefits – where the floor markings can instantly be adjusted to suit the arena usage, thereby avoiding the current situation where numerous different ‘pitch layouts’ have to co-exist side-by-side.

A variety of sports in addition to squash – eg. badminton, basketball, volleyball, handball, tennis or even boxing – could benefit from this new cutting-edge technology. “It would be great to see Klitschko on a glass floor,” concluded Babinsky. “This technology is also made for boxing!”

Impressions of the event are on the ASB facebook-site and some videos are on youtube.


Get into the driver’s seat of the 24-hours race!

ROWE Motoroil, the powerful German lubricant brand which is involved in Squash for many years now (engaged at the Worms Bundesliga team, Mohamed Elshorbagy, Nick Matthew, Greg Gaultier, and Miguel Angel Rodriguez as brand ambassadors and several events) gives all the squash and speed fans the chance of getting in the driver’s seat at the famous 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in Germany.

The best perspective during the 24-hour race will be a thrilling on-board footage to show the world’s toughest race live from the driver’s perspective of ROWE RACING’s two Mercedes gullwing SLS AMG GT3s.

From Saturday (16 May, 15.00 hrs) untill Sunday (17 May, 17.00 hrs, German time), the stream can be accessed from all over the world in English and German at the on-board camera.


Paderborn German Champion again!

For the 11th time German Bundesliga team Paderborn, led by World No7 Simon Rösner and flying Columbian Miguel Angel Rodriguez (World No5), won the league play-offs.

They beat long-year rival Black&White Worms 3:1, who have missed their top players Nick Matthew (injury) and Mohamed Elshorbagy (British Open preparation).

Paderborner SC bt Black & White Worms 3:1
Pos.: 1 Simon Rösner – Jens Schoor 11-7, 11-5, 11-5
Pos.: 2 Miguel Angel Rodriguez – David Palmer 11-4, 12-14, 11-7, 11-5
Pos.: 3 Raphael Kandra – Tim Weber 11-8, 11-2, 11-6
Pos.: 4 Lennart Osthoff – Carsten Schoor 6-11, 5-11, 5-11


France beat England for European team tilte!

Competing in the event for the 41st time since 1975, and making their 15th appearance in the final, France finally won the men’s European Team Championship for the 1st time after beating favourites and defending champions England in a dramatic final in Herning, Denmark.

England reached the final for the 23rd year in a row and where on course to win their 40th title. However, French No.1 Gregory Gaultier, the World No.3 making his 15th appearance in the event, put the 2nd seeds into the lead with a 4-game win over Peter Barker – and team-mate Mathieu Castagnet extended the lead after surviving a 112-minute marathon over England’s 2nd string Daryl Selby.

England stalwart James Willstrop reduced the deficit after fighting back from 1/2 down to see off Gregoire Marche in 90 minutes – leaving England needing to win the 4th match 3/0 to have the chance of retaining the title.

England debutante Chris Simpson duly took the opener, but when Lucas Serme clinched the 2nd 11-7, the match was abandoned and France’s historic and long-awaited title breakthrough was achieved!

Germany became 3rd after beating the Scots 3/1 in the 3rd place play-off and England won the women’s trophy for the 37th time after beating France 2/1 in the final.

Men’s final:
[2] FRANCE bt [1] ENGLAND 9-6 on games countback
Gregory Gaultier bt Peter Barker 12-10, 11-8, 10-12, 11-3 (64m)
Mathieu Castagnet bt Daryl Selby 6-11, 11-9, 11-4, 14-12 (112m)
Gregoire Marche lost to James Willstrop 5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 8-11 (90m)
Lucas Serme v Chris Simpson 5-11, 11-7 (match unfinished)

3rd place play-off:
[3] GERMANY bt [4] SCOTLAND 9-6 on games countback
Simon Rösner bt Alan Clyne 3-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-9 (59m)
Raphael Kandra lost to Greg Lobban 5-11, 7-11, 11-5, 7-11 (57m)
Jens Schoor v Douglas Kempsell 12-10, 9-11, 11-6 (match unfinished)
Rudi Rohrmuller bt Kevin Moran 11-4, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8 (57m)

Women’s final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [2] FRANCE 2/1
Sarah-Jane Perry bt Coline Aumard 11-4, 11-6, 2-11, 11-6 (36m)
Alison Waters lost to Camille Serme 7-11, 4-11, 11-9, 5-11 (45m)
Emma Beddoes bt Laura Pomportes 11-5, 11-5, 11-4 (28m)

3rd place play-off:
[4] IRELAND bt [6] DENMARK 2/1
Madeline Perry bt Line Hansen 13-11, 11-9, 11-8
Aisling Blake bt Sally Skaarenborg 11-6, 11-5, 11-6
Ciara Moloney lost to Mathilde Lauridsen 7-11, 3-11


Gaultier takes Grasshopper title in style!

French World No.3 Greg Gaultier (front) showed impressively why he was the No.1 seed at the 2015 Grasshopper Cup, taking home the title in a commanding 11-8, 11-3, 11-9 victory over German Simon Rösner (back) in the final at Zurich’s Puls5.

Gaultier dominated from start to finish against the World No.10 who looked visibly fatigued from spending over 200-minutes on court going into the finale, including a brutal 95-minute semi-final encounter against Omar Mosaad (EGY).

The Frenchman known as the “General’ was in charge throughout the competition as he claimed the 29th PSA World Tour title of his career without the loss of a single game during the whole event to send a strong message out to his main title-rivals ahead of the Allam British Open, which gets underway on May 11, where he’ll be hoping to retain the title he won in 2014.

“Winning this title means a lot because I haven’t won a tournament for around six months. It gives me a lot of confidence going forward to have a good week like this so I’m very happy,” said Gaultier.

Final:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [5] Simon Rösner (GER) 11-8, 11-3, 11-9 (45m)

Semi-finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 (51m)
[5] Simon Rösner (GER) bt [6] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 11-8, 13-11, 11-13, 11-6 (95m)

Quarter-finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 (45m)
[3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt [8] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-2 (69m)
[5] Simon Rösner (GER) bt [Q] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 (71m)
[6] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 11-3, 11-8, 7-11, 9-4 ret. (61m)

1st round:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 (52m)
Daryl Selby (ENG) bt [7] Borja Golan (ESP) 13-11, 11-9, 11-5 (78m)
[8] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt [Q] Gregoire Marche (FRA) 4-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 (90m)
[3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt [Q] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 5-11, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10 (76m)
[Q] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [4] Tarek Momen (EGY) 11-9, 4-11, 11-4, 11-6 (66m)
[5] Simon Rösner (GER) bt [WC] Reiko Peter (SUI) 11-8, 11-7, 11-5 (42m)
[6] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [Q] Alan Clyne (SCO) 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 (38m)
[2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-11, 6-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-8 (69m)


Gaultier and Rösner fighting for Zurich title!

Number 1 seed Gregory Gaultier, the French World No.3, will take on German World No.10 Simon Rösner in the final of the 2015 Grasshopper Cup, in Zurich’s Puls 5 venue.

The Frenchman will be gunning to collect the 29th PSA World Tour title of his career against the German powerhouse, who’ll be competing in his 15th final. Gaultier is the favourite after reaching the final without dropping and leading the head-to-head 19-1 over Rösner.

Gaultier secured his place in the final with an error-free display against World No.5 Miguel Angel Rodriguez, preventing the dynamic Colombian from using his pace as he dictated proceedings from the very first point to the 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 victory. “I’m really excited to be into another final and I’m looking forward to the challenge ahead,” said Gaultier. “All credit to Miguel as he’s done really well this year but I guess it was my day today and I’ll go now prepare myself as best I can and hopefully I’ll be able to do my best to win another trophy tomorrow”, he added.

Rösner came through a 95-minute battle with World No.9 Ashour conquer Omar Mosaad in a battle of hard-hitting giants. After a 2:0 lead in games Mosaad was able to parry 3 match balls from the German to shorten the games deficit, but Rösner came back strong in the 4th to take the 11-8, 13-11, 11-13, 11-6 victory and his place in the final. “It’s quite hard to get your head around leading 2-0 and being so close to winning and then not finishing it off,” said Rösner.

Final:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [5] Simon Rösner (GER)

Semi-finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 (51m)
[5] Simon Rösner (GER) bt [6] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 11-8, 13-11, 11-13, 11-6 (95m)


Mosaad downs Ashour in Zurich!

World Champion Ramy Ashour’s (le) hopes of winning back-to-back PSA World Tour titles came crashing down as he limped off court against fellow Egyptian Omar Mosaad (ri) during the quarter-finals of the 2015 Grasshopper Cup, in Zurich.

Just 24 hours earlier, Ashour came back from 2 games down to beat home favourite Nicolas Mueller in 5 games in 1st round action. But World No.9 Mosaad showed his intent from the opening point, taking the ball short to test Ashour’s movement – a tactic that paid off to a victory after Ashour conceded the match conceded the match with Mosaad leading 11-3, 11-8, 7-11, 9-4. “Of course I am happy to reach the semi-finals but that is not the way I want to win and it is hard for me,” said Mosaad.

Mosaad’s semis opponent will be Germany’s Simon Rösner, who came through a tough match with Indian qualifier Saurav Ghosal. The World No.10 Rösner came back from 1 game down to win 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 in 71 minutes.

Earlier, top seed Greg Gaultier was in commanding form to overrun England’s Daryl Selby 11-6, 11-4, 11-5. Gaultier will take on World No.5 Miguel Angel Rodriguez of Colombia who beat Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet 8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-2.

Semi-finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
[6] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v [5] Simon Rösner (GER)

Quarter-finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 (45m)
[3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt [8] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-2 (69m)
[5] Simon Rösner (GER) bt [Q] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 (71m)
[6] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 11-3, 11-8, 7-11, 9-4 ret. (61m)

1st round:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 (52m)
Daryl Selby (ENG) bt [7] Borja Golan (ESP) 13-11, 11-9, 11-5 (78m)
[8] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt [Q] Gregoire Marche (FRA) 4-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 (90m)
[3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt [Q] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 5-11, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10 (76m)
[Q] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [4] Tarek Momen (EGY) 11-9, 4-11, 11-4, 11-6 (66m)
[5] Simon Rösner (GER) bt [WC] Reiko Peter (SUI) 11-8, 11-7, 11-5 (42m)
[6] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [Q] Alan Clyne (SCO) 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 (38m)
[2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-11, 6-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-8 (69m)