Gaultier, Farag First Round Winners at El Gouna, Ashour Injured Again by Nathan Clarke April 25, 2016
- The second day of action at the 2016 El Gouna International was
dominated by home success as Egyptian players triumphed in six of eight
matches during a dramatic day of competition at the Red Sea resort that
saw three-time champion and 2015 winner Ramy Ashour's hopes of
title-defence halted prematurely due to injury.
The maverick
Egyptian returned to competitive action on the PSA World Tour during
last month's Allam British Open following an extended injury absence,
but appeared to suffer a reoccurrence of the hamstring difficulty that
has plagued his career over the past three years as he conceded his
first round match up to recent Grasshopper Cup winner Marwan ElShorbagy.
Ashour
started slowly in the first game before an awkward looking movement
into the front of the court mid-way through the second led to a hand
shake and a subdued end to what promised to be a compelling encounter.
"Ramy
is a great player - he's won this tournament three times," said
ElShorbagy. "I didn't expect what happened today - it's sad what has
happened to him.
"When he's around it is great for the
sport and the players, I just hope he can fix all his injuries because
when he's playing fit the sport is in a better place.
"Before
playing today I just wanted to enjoy the experience and make the most
of it. Sadly that didn't happen today but last week in Zurich gave me a
lot of confidence. I can't wait to be back on the court again tomorrow
- playing in Egypt is a great opportunity and I've never made the
quarters here before so I'll give it a big push tomorrow."
Earlier
in the day qualifier Omar Abdel Meguid produced a mammoth performance
to overcome a gap of 12 places on the World Rankings and take out Hong
Kong's World No.17 Max Lee in a gruelling 75 minute match up while
fellow compatriots Fares Dessouki, Karim Abdel Gawad, Tarek Momen and
Ali Farag also came through to the delight of home fans.
The
other winners on the second day were World Champion Gregory Gaultier
and South African Stephen Coppinger, who avoided total collapse in his
first round encounter against Qatar's Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi as, after
storming ahead 2-0 a series of costly errors with the finishing line in
sight led the match to be turned upside down.
On a hot and
humid court Tamimi stormed back into contention to force a fifth game
but the experience Coppinger managed to recompose himself at the
crucial stage to avoid a shock first round defeat.
"Everyone
is talking about the conditions and it is hot, it is humid, but for me
the most difficult thing today was him," said Coppinger.
"He
made it hard to find any kind of rhythm and I never felt settled. I'm
livid with myself for that third game because it was just simple
mistakes and then I lost my way in the fourth. Thankfully the opposite
happened in the fifth and I got it back."
Draw - Second Round [1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v Chris Simpson (ENG) [Q] Cesar Salazar (MEX) v [8] Simon Rösner (GER) [7] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v Leo Au (HKG) Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v [3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v [Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [6] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) [5] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Ali Farag (EGY) Stephen Coppinger (RSA) v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
