|
|
Day Three - the end in sight
Day three and we're down to the semi-finals
already, where did those two days go ???
To be honest, after a 10am start and with
six batches of four matches still to go on
at 9pm, it all became a bit of a blur by the
end of yesterday ...
Still, today should be fairly simple -
playoff matches from 10am, then at 5pm all
hell breaks loose as the semi-finals of each
of the ten events all take place in the
space of two hours (in theory!).
WISPA Reports
Juniors Roundup
|
Photo Galleries
including Day
three |
|
B15:
Fadi Tharwat (Egy) bt Fares Dasouky (Egy)
11/7, 7/11, 8/11, 11/9, 11/8
Seif Abo El
Enein (Egy) bt Shehab Essam (Egy)
12/10,12/10, 9/11, 11/8
B17: Marwan El Shorbagy (Egy)
bt Ahmed Atef (Egy)
12/10, 7/11, 11/9, 6/11, 11/4
Islam Adel (Egy)
bt Mazen Hisham (Egy)
11/3, 6/11, 11/4, 11/6
WISPA: [1] Engy Kheirallah (Egy)
bt [7] Amanda Sobhy (Usa)
11/5, 11/6, 11/4 (20m)
Nour El Sherbini (Egy) bt [4] Kanzy
El Defrawy (Egy)
12/10, 11/6, 11/6 (45m)
B19: Amr Khaled (Egy) bt [1]
Yven Youri (Mas)
12/10, 11/8, 11/8
[2] Karim Sawy (Egy) bt
Ali Farag (Egy)
8/11, 7/11, 11/5, 11/6, 11/7
G15: Layla Omar (Egy) bt
[1] Salma Hatem (Egy)
8/11, 14/12, 9/11, 12/10, 11/8
[2] Yathreb Adel (Egy)
bt Salma Hany (Egy)
7/11, 11/9, 11/6, 11/7
G17: Nada El Kalawi (Egy)
bt Ankita Sharma (Ind)
11/5, 11/1, 14/12
Sherouk Ehab (Egy)
bt Rowan Khedr (Egy)
11/9, 11/4, 11/4
G19: [1] Catalina Pelaez (Col)
bt amindhi Dilochani (Sri)
11/6, 13/11, 11/4
Amanda Sobhy (Usa)
bt Lee Ka Man (Hkg)
11/9, 11/8, 11/1
B23: [1] Abdullah Al Mezayan (Kuw)
bt Karim El Dabaa (Egy)
11/5, 11/7, 7/11, 11/7
[2] Andrew Wagih (Egy)
bt Ahmed El Swaify (Egy)
8/11, 11/2, 11/9, 14/12
G13: Mariam Metwalli (Egy) bt
[1] Radwa Adel (Egy)
Salma Al Dafrawy (Egy)
bt Nouran Magdhi (Egy)
B13: Mohamed Ayman bt Said Eldin Ehab
Ziad Roshdy bt Karim Tarek
Finals start at
10.00 Monday, all on the showcourt. WISPA
final at 18.30 with minister of sport in
attendance
Start at 10.00 in this order: G13,
B13, G15, B15, G17, B17, G19, B19, B23,
WISPA |
|
 |
|
 |
WISPA Semi-Finals:
Engy's experience tells,
Sherbini too sharp
With three teenagers in the WISPA
semi-finals, there was only one chance for
experience to tell, and top seed Engy
Kheirallah duly took it as she ended the run
of America's Amanda Sobhy.
With the match broadcast live on Nile TV,
the Egyptian took early control and never
relinquished it as Sobhy suffered from a few
too many errors on the very hot centre
court.
The second match featured two of Egypt's
brightest up and coming stars, 15-year-old
Kanzy El Defrawy Nour El Sherbini, just 13.
Both had been impressive in their earlier
rounds, but Sherbini's defeat of top
Egyptian junior Heba El Torky was especially
impressive, and the three-time BJO champion
continued to be so in this match.
Both strike the ball well, but Sherbini's
movement is sharper, and her range of shots
greater, and she's taller, too. After
closing out a tight first game on extra
points - although she was never behind -
Sherbini held the upper hand throughout the
next two games, and although the rallies
were always competitive she always looked
the likely winner.
Both are 9/16 seeds in the forthcoming world
juniors in Chennai (Sobhy is 17/32), but on
this week's evidence we could quite easily
see a 13-year-old world finalist ...
|
Juniors Roundup
With four of five matches taking place at
once, and with the four glassback courts
heaving with people, it was very difficult
to get a handle on what was going on tonight
- just keeping up with the results was
difficult enough, so a quick summary is all
you're going to get, sorry!
 While
the WISPA matches were on, the Boys U15 and
U17 warmed up the glassbacks. I'm not a fan
of having all the matches from one age group
on at the same time, I'm sure the players
would like to be able to watch their peers
and prospective opponents play, but there
you go.
Two very tough matches in the U15, both
all-Egyptian, with Fadi Tharwat
coming from 2/1 down and Seif Enein
taking the first two on extra points before
winning in four. The U17 was no easier -
both WISPA matches had finished before any
of the first of the boys' matches - with
Marwan El Shorbagy coming through in
five and Islam Adel in four. They've
played a lot, Marwan tells me, and it's
always close.
One thing I've noticed this week is how many
players seem to be sliding into their shots.
All the court floors are new, and although
no-one seems to be slipping in normal play,
sometimes it's like watching clay-court
tennis. Marwan seems to have mastered the
art particularly well, sliding into the back
or front corners, playing a low hard boast
and somehow extricating himself, still
balanced and ready for the next shot. I must
give it a try ...
 I
was expecting the Girls U13s next, thinking
that all tonight's matches were at the
stadium, but apparently not, the youngest
age group was still taking place at the
Zohour Club. It wasn't until close of play
that we found out who'd won, but by then I
already knew one finalist - Mariam
Metwalli - as she'd come to tell me that
she was playing on the showcourt at 10.00
tomorrow, would I be there to take photos.
Yes, Mariam, I'll be there!
The girls U15 matches seemed to take forever
- I'd go back and forth from the office,
check other matches, process the results, do
it all again, and still they were going.
Eventually Layla Omar and Yethreb
Adel made it through - I hope they've
got enough energy left for tomorrow.
The Girls U17 passed me by unfortunately,
but we'll see Nada El Kalami and
Sherouk Ehab tomorrow, and I only caught
glimpses of the U19, where top seed
Catalina Pelaez and Amanda ("it's
my birthday tomorrow") Sobhy came
through in straight games.
 Two
mammoth matches in the Boys U19 (when I said
in the preview "20 matches in two hours,
that was based on a 30m per match schedule,
yeah, right) resulted in another
all-Egyptian final. Amr Khaled (we
know him from the BJO as Amr Khaled Khalifa)
took out top seed Iven Youri 14/12 in the
fourth. Meanwhile Karim Samy (we know
him as Karim Abdel Gawad, who is different
from Karim AGA Samy, don't ask) came from
two down in about two hours.
Finally in the Boys U23 I missed top seed
Abdullah El Mezayan completely as his
match was rescheduled onto the showcourt
without me noticing (only the two WISPA
matches were scheduled for the showcourt),
and apparently it was a fantastic match as
he beat Karim El Dabaa (who 'our' Karim told
me was also a Samy) in four games.
 The
final match of the night saw another BJO
regular Andrew Wagih take on Ahmed El
Swaify. They went at it hammer and tongs for
a long, long time, it was hard to see how
either could win a point the way the other
one was retrieving. Eventually Wagih
got himself to 2-1 and 10-8, then seemed to
put little effort into the next two points -
maybe he wanted to reward the enthusiastic
crowd with a fifth after all ...
A couple of chances to win the game passed
for each of them, and on the final point El
Swaify stood stock still after playing his
final boast, allowing Wagih to put in an
unopposed drop to take the match. A
strangely anticlimactic ending to a match
full of effort and skill, but Ahmed,
clutching his leg, probably decided he'd
already done himself enough damage.
So, on to the finals, all in one venue, all
on one court ... I can't wait ...
|
 |
|
|
|
