Anahat Singh (Ind) 3-1 [wc] Habiba Rizk (Egy) 11-5, 11-4, 5-11, 16-14 (44m)
[wc] Nadia Mahmoud (Egy) 3-2 Malak Khagafy (Egy) 7-11, 6-11, 11-5 rtd (38m)
Hanah Ramadan (Egy) 3-0 [Q] Nour Khagafy (Egy) 11-8, 11-5, 13-11 (37m)
Lucy Turmel (Eng) 3-1 [Q] Xin Ying Yee (Mas) 11-9, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5 (41m)
Well that was an interesting first session! Blimey.
I chose the Nour Khafagy‘s match against Hana Ramadan as I saw Nour play during the qualifyers and I was impressed by her squash and determination.
After a slow start (nerves?) from Nour, the match was on. A few too many contacts/lets for it to be a classic, but a very good match indeed, intense and fair.
I knew what to expect because I played with her like a week or two ago. And it was 3/2, and it was very emotional, very tense.
Today, I was trying to stay calm, contain my nerves, injecting the pace because the ball got soft after the second game, and try to hit my targets! I was trying to pump myself up throughout the whole game.
My husband is based in London, I’m living again with my parents in Egypt, I’m travelling back and forth. I’m trying to play new tournaments as it has become so competitive to get into the major events. So I had to add more tournaments to my busy squash schedule. It’s a bit insane!
And of course, I’m still doing my job as a physio. And it helps keeping my sanity.
Honestly, losing a match, helping someone getting back on their feet, it’s like a reality check, it puts everything back into perspective. Helping others, stepping away from the court, and stay with ‘real life’ problems…
But from next court, I could hear two matches going on with a few loud moments. First one was a superb performance from WC Habiba Rizk, who impressed everybody by her intensity and passion!
The crowd, 200% carrying their girl, made Anahat Sing‘s life very complicated. It took all the experience of the Indian to finally close the game in 4, 16/14 in the 4th….
Anahat
That’s where I struggled today, controlling my nerves.I played pretty well in the first two games, then she obviously upped the pace a little bit, with a sudden switch in the game. She started playing very well from the 3rd game. It’s pretty hard to play juniors, I understand what it’s like when the others are playing me!!! The pressure is completely different, you think ‘don’t mess up’ instead of actually play my game.
I just started playing on the PSA Tour, so hopefully, I’m able to learn from the match, be able to understand how to control my nerves next time.
About Press interest in India
I wouldn’t say the Press interest is adding pressure, it’s actually quite nice!
In India, squash is not a big sport so seeing that there is actually more coverage for our sport with our men doing so well too.Yes, it’s very overwhelming so much attention after the Asian Games or the World Juniors, but it’s actually motivating me and exciting me to play more because there are so many people that are watching us and want to take it up… it’s so nice to see that.
But the drama was actually happening next door. Malak Khafagy – sister of Nour – was leading 2/0 in a match that had a few too many calls, conduct warnings and all. But as she was leading in the 3rd, when the two players collided on the court, Malak running into her opponent, who seemed to have an arm in the way (according to eye witnesses). Although it looked to spectators as a contributed injury, which would have given Malak time to recover theoretically, only 3 minutes were given as self-inflicted. A penalty game was awarded, and then the match was awarded to Malak, who had been wheeled out of the court, was not able to return to the court.
A very unhappy father made his point very clear to me that they felt, after the Malak/Nouran disaster referreeing match in Qatar, that they felt that the refs were unfair to their daughter, who just flew across the world as she is studying in the US to be on the court today… “What do they want? Do they want her to quit? We are doing so much effort, spending money, energy, for what!”
Less drama for the last match, Lucy Turmel got the better of her Malaysian Qualifier Xin Ying Yee 3/1. Nice to see Lucy playing finally injury free.
So I needed to stay sharp, and really focused, on my toes. And when I did that, then I could control her and her movement broke down a bit, like in the front corners. Last season, I had a glute injury, that was horrible, lingered and lasted for ages. I had a very good summer training, so really this season, I’m playing injury free, which is really nice. My ranking dropped considerably as a result last season, so I’m trying to get that back, but at the same time, I’m trying to stay fit and look after my body so I can play every event and have every opportunity. 
