Mike these young Egyptians are really moving through the ranks at a great rate of knots.  We, in Aussie, are always warned about training too hard too young, so let's hope "burn out" does not impede these excellent athletes when they have another ten years to go, at least, before retirement, and 15 years in the case of John White and co..

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The photo of Nicol David looking impressed at the hefty trophy she's being handed makes me wonder what her excess luggage bill must be and how she lugs these trophies home from around the world. Must add up when you keep winning...

Impressive too for Karim to get to (and win this time) the final of two major tournaments in a row. Will be interesting to see what that does for his ranking.

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Karim Darwish (EGY) was too strong for Amr Shabana (EGY) and clenched the final in three. Don't feel disappointed if you find yourself doing as Amr did according to squashsite  "impatience saw him trying to finish rallies too soon..."  That tells us he was worried as his opponent was obviously having a "blinder".   It seems the semi-final matches gave more to the spectators than the finals.

Nicol David (MAL) won her third Qatar Classic and never looked like getting beaten yet again. 

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In the semis Natalie Grinham beats her sister Rachael after being down 2:1, ending at 12:10 in the fifth after an hours tussle on court.  That was the longest match of the day.

It will be an all Egyptian Mens final when Amr Shabana plays Karim Darwish.  All the men's semis ended in four games; ten minutes shorter than the girls match.  I bet they were thankful for PARS.  That scoring system makes sense in a field as strong as this. Shabana would have been the only fresh player out there on the day.

What a great tournament.

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The top four women are through to the semis.

Ramy Ashour (EGY) and David Palmer (AU) are out.  All of the Men's matches were hard fought, except Amr Shabana (EGY) despatched Peter Barker in three.  That is a plus for Amr and make it even more difficult for his opponent, Lincou, who had a hard tussle with Ramy in the semi final match.

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