Sweet Home Chicago Open
Chicago, Illinois, USA
By Zee Shaan Jamal

Blessed is Chicago, for stars have descended from the heavens to grace her with their divine yet subtle presence, but just like many people who take the gods for granted, negate their existence, ignore their presence or remain oblivious to the effect they have on everyone around, many people here in Chicago remained in the dark to the attendance of our sport’s heroes.

How often would one get to see a World Champion of a sport warm up for his match in the shadows of a major city’s skyline?

How often do you see an athlete of such caliber stretch as part of his pre-match routine, in the midst of the busiest of traffic junctions of a major metropolitan city?

Answer: ‘NEVER’, but we saw it here, right here in the Windy City. Chicago is fortunate beyond its dreams to have played host to these world class athletes who make their living practicing the sport of Squash to the highest degree possible.

Lost in the wilderness of modernity and resonance of a busy backdrop, our heroes did comes off as ‘diamonds in the rough’, for not many were aware of their stature in our sport but more than plenty were amazed as to what was going on North Michigan Avenue.

The McWil glass show-court presents a breath-taking sight to anyone walking by. Colorful, magnificent, unique, captivating, intriguing and yet somehow familiar, that is what our venue looked like to the passing public. No one could ignore it, in memories they could store it…

Then around 6 pm, as the sun sat down and gave way to the court’s lights to create the translucent effect within the court limits, the players took to court. David Palmer (Australia) was the first one up against a qualifier Alain Osman Mudeen (Cayman Islands), and with ease, sailed through the match. The number one seed of the tournament is looking well in form and will now face his next challenge on Saturday (September 13th).

Julian Illingworth (USA) may not have had the luck of the draw as he was drawn to play Liam Kenny (Ireland), a player that has beaten him before and I don’t think that being a seeded player in this tournament, Julian particularly fancied this draw but the determination and grit he brought along with him to the court tonight saw him secure a 3 – 0 victory over a rather tensed Kenny. In my opinion this was the performance of the day.

Next up was the ever unpredictable yet ever so very entertaining John White (Scotland). The former world number one is still going immensely strong on the tour for his years and possesses the wicked shots of the Egyptians and the thundering power of the Australians, which on any day can prove to be a handful to the best of players. So was the case for Yasser El-Halaby (Egypt), who despite playing superbly came up short in a 3-1 battle. White is again looking in good form and is sure to shake things up in the upcoming quarters on Saturday.

Last up today were Daryl Selby (England) and Arthur Gaskin (Ireland), both of whom produced the purest brand of Squash for the night. Both of them played patient Squash and rallied up and down the walls really well. Gaskin lost the first two games with a close margin but failed to mount a considerable challenge in the third and Selby ran away with the game and match. Nonetheless, the qualifier left an impression on players and audiences alike and I am sure will be back to fight another day.

 
For more information
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   Player Bios 


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