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More Fallout from Men's World Team Championships
|  Squash Ezine wrote on June 19 about a scandalous match at the Men's World Team Championships where Gregory Gaultier appeared to be disqualified by the referee and was a few moments later allowed to continue the match.
On June 26, the World Referee Assessor on site wrote to Squash Ezine to defend the decision.
Below is a follow-up letter from a French referee who was also at the match and saw things very differently.
We've also printed this letter in full on the Squash Ezine blog, where you can add your own comments.
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Dear Mrs Sinclair
I would like to thank you for giving an analysis of the World Team's Semi final match between Gr�gory Gaultier and Nick Mathew.
I would like to ask you a few questions about the match:
1. At 9-6 in the fifth, the referee decides not to proclaim England the winners because you say " Matthew , as a true sportsman, accepts to go on with the match." You agree with the referee's decision since you say " when the players agree to go against the referee's decision concerning a ball which is called out , the players' wish must be respected".
I don't agree with you on this point because:
- when a ball is called out, errors are often made due to the distance between the referee and the court. The players being in the heat of the action, if they both agree, it seems common sense that the referee should change his decision.
- However, the decision to proclaim England the winners in case of cramp is in accordance with rules concerning injury during a match. I don't see why this rule was not applied even if both players agree on the matter. In this case, why not imagine that the player at fault would lose a game ( according to behavior rules ) for having insulted the referee who consequently overrules his decision because his opponent considers the sanction too severe.
2/ I wouldn't say , like you, that the match took place in a wonderful atmosphere. Several spectators said that it was really embarrassing to see a referee whistled at and continually criticized like he was.
I think if the referee decided to overturn his decision and not proclaim England the winners , it's due
A - to the fact that Matthew and the English coach agreed on this
B - due to the fact that the French delegation all stood up and contested the decision
C - and ultimately, because he didn't want to have problems with the patriotic crowd.
3/ Thirdly, there were also moments during the match when the players took time for injury :
Between the 3rd and 4th games, Matthew asked for time off court and got 3 minutes due to a foot injury. It was a legitimate request since he took his sock off to be treated.
At 3-1 in the fifth, Matthew leaves the court for treatment but the referee refuses the 3 minute-time allowance because it was the same injury as before.
However, according to information given by one of the English players sat at the front of the court, Mattthew had cramp then. My question being how can a referee judge whether a player has cramp or another injury ?
At 8-5 for Matthew in the fourth, the referee allows Gaultier to leave the court for 3 minutes for a 'foot injury". But, from what we could see, Gaultier had been showing signs of cramp from the beginning of the fourth, at the end of a few long rallies. How can we be sure of the type of injury the player is suffering from to be able to make the correct decision?
At 9-6 in the fifth, Gaultier falls down on the court obviously in pain due to cramp. Does the fact that he is immediately treated by the French team's physio mean that he loses the game since he is not respecting the rules concerning recuperation time?
4/ Finally, on a larger scale, we were wondering that if a member of the IOC was in the crowd, how would he have reacted to the fact that the referee changed his mind after proclaiming England the winner !
In which other sport do you think we could come across the exact same situation?
Nicolas Barbeau
French referee
ps : i think we met in Honk-Kong a few years ago. I was refereeing at the PSA-WISPA Buller Open.
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We've printed this letter in full on the Squash Ezine blog, where you can add your own comments.
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PSA World Championship Promo
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 The PSA Men's World Squash Championship 2013 in Manchester is set to be the biggest squash championship in the UK yet featuring four World Champions, including England's two-time champion Nick Matthew, who lives on the doorstep too, so home crowd for him. |
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Question of the Week
| | SquashBusters was founded 17 years ago. Now there are 13 National Urban Squash groups, with over 1,000 junior squash players and an annual expenditure of $6 million+.
Is it unfair to wonder why none of those kids make it to the U.S. Junior National teams?
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Should Americans expect to see more diversity on the U.S. Junior National Squash Teams?
To cast your vote and/or comment on the issue, please click here.
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Growing Up Patton
|  [Many thanks to the Squash Joint for this nugget.]
In a letter to his son, dated April 19, 1944, U.S. General George Patton spent a moment offering some advice to his son on the sport of squash, a game the son had just picked up.
To see the Squash Joint's article, please click here.
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Yale Men Reloaded
|  Legendary Yale Coach Dave Talbott is celebrating his 30th year in New Haven this season.
And he's bringing in some top talent to keep his men's team in the elite ranks of College Squash.
To read Yale's preview, please click here.
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Forbes List of Top Colleges
|  Forbes put together their list of America's top colleges and universities.
According to Forbes, "We're not all that interested in what gets a student into college. . . Our sights are set directly on ROI: What are students getting out of college."
Here are their top 25. (Schools in bold have a varsity or club squash team.)
1 Stanford University 2 Pomona College 3 Princeton University 4 Yale University 5 Columbia University 6 Swarthmore College 7 United States Military Academy 8 Harvard University 9 Williams College 10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 11 University of Pennsylvania 12 Brown University 13 Amherst College 14 University of Chicago 15 Duke University 16 Dartmouth College 17 Northwestern University 18 California Institute of Technology 19 Cornell University 20 Bowdoin College 22 University of California, Berkeley 23 Wellesley College 24 University of Notre Dame 25 Tufts University For the complete Forbes list of America's top colleges, please click here.
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Dartmouth College Tackles Binge Drinking
|  Dartmouth College inspired the movie "Animal House."
Now it's a national leader in trying to reduce binge drinking and is sharing ideas among dozens of campuses.
In the picture above, Dartmouth's Brandon Harrington talks to the squash team about binge-drinking.
To see the Boston Globe article, please click here.
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Badminton Brawl
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At last week's Canada Open, Thai badminton player Bodin Issara chased down then pummeled former Olympic teammate Maneepong Jongjit.
To see Huffington Post's coverage, please click here.
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Million Dollar Baby
|  PGA star Hunter Mahan chose family over work this weekend, and though it may have cost him more than $1 million, he sounds ecstatic.
To see CNN's article, please click here.
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Keeping Away from the Ball
|  One of the key fundamentals in squash is keeping away from the ball.
The reason this is so important as we need room to swing. If you get too close to the ball you don't have room to take a proper swing.
To see Total Squash's video, please click here.
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Bi-Lateral Kick Warm-Up
|  Dynamic flexibility is a must before you do any kind of movement.
Here, Natalie Grinham performs some 'BiLateral kickbacks' in her warm up before taking the court.
To see the McCaw Method's video, please click here.
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TRUTH & Rumors
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 Will the real Ramy please stand up?- Ramy Ashour took to Twitter this week to complain about a fake facebook account that sprung up using his name and pictures.
- Prince Sports executive Scott Winters moved up the corporate ladder and is no longer directly involved with squash promotions.
- Damon Leedale-Brown is now taking on global squash promotions responsibility at Prince.
- PST Sportsman of the Year Shahid Khan is back to work after his honeymoon. Earlier this month he married the lovely Aimee Perrin.
- A year after Bates College landed the top recruit in high school squash, Ahmed Khalek, word is another elite squash player from Egypt will join their squash team this coming fall.
- And you guessed it, his name is Ahmed. #TheTwoAhmeds
- We've heard former Los Angeles Athletic Club squash pro Bob Hanscom couldn't stay retired. He's back doing a little coaching down the road in Pasadena.
- Speaking of La La land and its rumor mill. The LA Athletic Club chose cross town pro, JP Rothie to take over for the departed Stefan Castelyn, but members are wondering aloud how long he'll stay.
- Rothie, who studied film in college, decided to head to India for the summer to work on a new movie.
- Congratulations to Westchester Squash's Andy Learoyd and his lovely wife Liz who recently celebrated the birth of their baby girl Katharine Emilie Learoyd.
- Nice to be Joe McManus.
- The Tufts coach and PST Commissioner made an appearance at the ISA College Showcase last week at Connecticut's Miss Porter's School.
- Organizers boarded him in Room 306 in the Humphrey Building, which locals remember as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' dorm room while she was a student at the school.
- Jackie O, who was born in Southampton, NY, would have celebrated her 84th birthday this past Sunday.
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Tell a Friend
| Your friends can receive their own copy of the Squash Ezine by visiting SquashEzine.com.
 
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Squash Camps |
To list your squash camp, please contact glmorque@aol.com. |
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