07 March 2012

EGYPTIAN BLITZKRIEG: AMR SHABANA vs. HISHAM ASHOUR

Even though it doesn't look like it, this video shows the highlights of a $50.000 tournament final (the 2012 Comfort Inn Open, back in January). Played on a traditional cement-wall court it gives you an idea how these guys might train back in their home clubs in Cairo; because indeed it looks - not like an exhibition - but rather like a well-spirited training-match, very fair, but without any deliberate and funny feedings, they just go for it, and it looks to me that the audacious geometrical solutions make them win more points than lose. I am personally a fan of the patient, steady, "up-and-down the wall squash", but when I see a highlight-compilation like this, it projects somehow a wider smile on my face. Thank you Shabana and Hisham for having had spent all those times alone on the court experiencing the angles! May the God of geometry be with you for long.