August 18, 2013 Nicol David: Dives at the 2012 Grand Cayman Worlds Three "bonus-points!"
A great rally is
taking place...when all of a sudden, Ramy Ashour flips his racquet -
and while holding it by the head, hits the ball with the handle...into
the nick! Two "bonus-points" to Ramy! Ramy Ashour - Egypt
In the next rally,
Ramy's opponent (Jonathon Power) moves to the front left corner, fakes
a backhand cross-court while switching the racquet to his left hand,
hitting a forehand straight drive to perfect length! Jonathon Power - Canada
As with Ramy's shot,
world referee Michael Riley awards two "bonus-points!" to Jonathon.
"What"...you say! "Bonus-points"..."what's that about!?" The answer...a
"list" of "difficult" (unorthodox) shots for the referees to award
appropriate "bonus-points" to, i..e behind the back, between the legs,
over the shoulder, etc., shots worth one "bonus-point" each. Michael Riley - World Referee Recording the "bonus-points"
The concept! Players
who choose to play either a "difficult" and/or "unorthodox" shot during
a rally will be awarded a "bonus-point" or more, (Nicol's
three-point-winning dive), depending on the degree of difficulty. The
point or points would be added to the actual points scored and
determine the winner.
We could just imagine
that the players would be attempting myriad of spectacular shots - in
hopes of accumulating "bonus-points." Just think of the (live) audience
response! Wow...they'd be coming out of their seats in anticipation of
viewing those "bonus-point" shots made by our great male and female
professional squash-players.
It wouldn't be too
difficult to educate the referees as to what the degree of difficulty
of those shots should be. And...taking it one step further, if a player
didn't attempt (at least) one of those shots during a game, a "point"
would be deducted from their score. Let's bring Jonathon back to play
Ramy...using this format! Crazy idea!? Fantasy...or (2020) innovation!?
