NewOrleans Report

by Rishad Alikhan

    The Annual Mardi Gras Open Squash Tournament was held February 16th - 18th this year. A group of 12, six guys and six gals, made the journey from Houston, most of them choosing to drive. This group made its presence felt, mostly off the squash courts. Nearly every year the HSRA is well represented at this tournament, but this year was particularly enjoyable. Stragglers from New York, Boston and California who were first-timers to this tournament joined the Houston group in their bid to collect beads and party until sunrise. Somewhere between the merrymaking a little squash was played, and considering the alcohol consumed and lack of sleep, the performance was quite impressive.

    This year's final of the Open Draw saw the return of two old timers; Michael Puertas and Robert Graham.  And this year we got to see something we've not been privy to in the past, although the locals claim it to be a well known LSU tradition. As soon as the first point was played (and won by Robert), everyone in the audience threw beads on to the court. The players, in between being bewildered and running for cover, were thoroughly amused once they realized that they weren't in any physical danger and weren't required to show their privates for the beads. After the next few minutes were spent picking up dozens of beads, the match continued. Michael, who got married last year and is expecting a baby next month, must have managed to sneak in more than a couple of hours of sleep. Robert, on the other hand started off as strong as some of the drinks he'd consumed the night before and soon reached the stage where the body disobeys the mind. After a most impressive performance in the first game, dazzling the crowd with a variety of kill shots, Robert struggled to keep up with the long rallies that are Michael's bread and butter. At one stage after a long rally in the fourth game, Robert doubled over to regain his breath and asked the crowd if they remembered the jambalaya from the day before. Fortunately we weren't forced to view this day-old meal. After a hard fought match, Puertas prevailed 3 - 1.

    Dave Scruton lost in the final and Dwight Waters lost in the semi final of the B draw, both of them losing to a local favorite. John Leavy won the final of the 40+ draw after several hard battles. John was the color of a ripe tomato all weekend long. Diana Scruton lost in the semi final of the Women's draw. The other draws featured some excellent matches as well, but good as the squash was, does anyone really go to New Orleans during Mardi Gras to play squash?

List of attendees:

Rishad Alikhan/Natalie Alikhan/John Leavy/Janet Maxwell/Virginia Perry/Dave Scruton/Diana Scruton/Audie Setters/Debbie Setters/Owen Smith/Dwight Waters/Lou Waters

The World Squash Federation (WSF) has made changes to the rules of squash. The changes became effective May 1st, 1997 and will remain in effect at least through April 30, 2001. Paraphrasing the "main" changes: 1. During a rally, if a player drops something on the floor, other than a racquet, play stops and the offending player automatically loses the rally. Exception: A collision or interference situation being the cause. 2. Recovery time for a self-inflicted injury is limited to 3 minutes. Exception: Blood flow accompanies the injury (no time limit). For a full description of the Rulesand changes, check out the 41 pages (!) on the Web.

Ratings are maintained by the USSRA. Ratings are recalculated based on 3 things: (1) Results of USSRA sanctioned tournaments, (2) Sanctioned league play, and (3) Agreed upon casual play. The only catch is that both players must be USSRA members and must have a rating. The HSRA sends in league results monthly and all results of HSRA/USSRA sanctioned tournaments. A lot of these results never make the ratings as one of the two players is either not a USSRA member or not rated. You can take care of the former by joining the HSRA. If you don't have a rating, contact one of the Houston verifiers - Andy Forster or  Rishad Alikhan  to establish an initial rating.

2000 ICS TOP 32
SEPTEMBER 11 – 15, 2000, UNIVERSITY CLUB
FINAL STANDINGS

1.   Muhammad Sadiq
2.   John Clark
3.   Guy Cowan
4.   Craig Hiddleston
5.   Chris Van Brummen
6.   Rishad Alikhan
7.   Chris Hakulin
8.   Brian Taylor
9.   Andy Hubbard
10.   Ron Kline
11.   Sandeep Bhakhri
12.   Dan Kuperman
13.   Dwight Waters
14.   Lee Spencer
15.   Jeff Kissner
16.   Bernie Wirth
17.   John Leavy
18.   Dave Scruton
19.   Alistair Barnes
20.   Michael McCord
21.   Andy Forster
22.   Kumar Muttulingasamy
23.   Dean Lane
24.   John Landers
25.   George Ball
26.   Dave Hanower 
27.   Tom Pritchard
28.   Iain MacIntosh
29.   Jim Pierce
30.   Michael Smith
31.   Cooke Wilson
32.   Arthur Moure

The Houston Met Squash Classic 2000
Final Results

Pro Event Final (Paul Price (W) vs. Martin Heath, injury def.)
Pro Event Semi (Paul Price (W) vs. Muhammad Sadiq, 3-0)
Pro Event Semi (Martin Heath (W) vs. Derek Ryan, 3-2)