RESULTS: Hurghada Squash International, Hurghada, Egypt

Men’s semi-finals:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [3] Karim Darwish (EGY) 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (49m)
[2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [4] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 (58m)

Women’s semi-finals:
[3] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) 5-9, 9-2, 5-9, 10-8, 9-5 (84m)
[2] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [6] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) 9-1, 9-3, 10-9 (42m)

Shabana & Ashour In Dream Hurghada Final

The world’s top two players Amr Shabana and Ramy Ashour will contest a dream all-Egyptian men’s Hurghada International final after prevailing in similar four-game semi-finals in the $61,250 5-star PSA Tour squash event in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

Both players faced determined opposition from fellow countrymen: Shabana, the world number one and top seed from Giza, got the better of third seed Karim Darwish, beating the 26-year-old from Cairo 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 in 49 minutes to reach the 29th Tour final of his career - and the sixth in succession since October.

Ashour, the 20-year-old world No2, conquered a fired-up fourth seed Wael El Hindi 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 in 58 minutes and will now contest his ninth PSA final in 15 months.

The men’s climax will mark Shabana and Ashour’s seventh Tour meeting since their first in October 2006 - and the fourth in a row in PSA event finals. Shabana currently leads the head-to-head tally 4/2.

The final of the women’s $26,200 WISPA World Tour event will be the first since 2002 not to feature Rachael Grinham. The top-seeded Australian, going for her fourth title in five years, was beaten 5-9, 9-2, 5-9, 10-8, 9-5 in 84 minutes by Egyptian rival Omneya Abdel Kawy - after failing to convert two match-balls in the fourth game.

Kawy, the 22-year-old third seed from Cairo who won the title two years ago, is celebrating her 15th WISPA final.

Her opponent will be England’s second seed Jenny Duncalf, who put paid to a second all-Egyptian final in Hurghada by beating Raneem El Weleily, the sixth seed from Alexandria, 9-1, 9-3, 10-9.

Duncalf, the 25-year-old world No6 from Harrogate in Yorkshire, is marking her sixth Tour final appearance - and her fifth WISPA meeting with Kawy since 2003. Omneya leads the head-to-heads 3/1.

Both finals will take place on Sunday.

PSA Tour (5 Star), 12-20 April 2008 (Men)

1st round:

[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) v Qualifier
[6] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
[3] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Davide Bianchetti (ITA)
[5] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) v Omar Elborolossy (EGY)
[8] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v Alister Walker (ENG)
[4] Wael El Hindi (EGY) v Qualifier
[7] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) v Qualifier
[2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Qualifier

WISPA World Tour (Silver 20), 12-20 April 2008 (Women)

1st round:

[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v Lauren Siddall (ENG)
[7] Manuela Manetta (ITA) v Camille Serme (FRA)
[3] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v Qualifier
[8] Tricia Chuah (MAS) v Qualifier
[6] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) v Qualifier
[4] Engy Kheirallah (EGY) v Georgina Stoker (ENG)
[5] Sharon Wee (MAS) v Qualifier
Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v [2] Christina Mak (HKG)

1st qualifying round:

Kylie Lindsay (NZL) v Kanzy Emad El-Defrawy (EGY)
Amnah El Trabolsy (EGY) v Farah Abdel Meguid (EGY)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v Salma Nassar (EGY)
Heba El Torky (EGY) v Sara El Noamany (EGY)
Coline Aumard (FRA) v Nouran El Torky (EGY)
Lucie Fialova (CZE) v Salma Hany (EGY)
Eman El Amir (EGY) v Nour El Sherbeny (EGY)
Adel Weir (RSA) v Farida El Dahab (EGY)

The four player stepladder finals was an all Egyptian affair and was broadcasted live on national TV as well as on the sports channel.

Sherif (right), the No. 3 seed, started the finals with a 163-132 win over junior national team member Mohamed Merdash.

Sherif went on to beat 2006 Hurghada open champion Sherif Moneim (left), seeded second, 186-166, for the right to face tournament leader Helmy in the finals.

“The stepladder saw some low scores compared to the tournament,” said Helmy after the victory. The oil was too heavy and it was clear to me that whoever makes the spares would win the game.”

In front of the Governor, some federation board members, reporters and a packed house, it was Helmy, who made the critical spares, while Sherif suffered five splits that resulted in open frames. Helmy denied Sherif’s bid for back-to-back titles and took revenge for the loss in the opening match of last year’s final.

The top 11 players plus the best player from the Red Sea region (best two 3-game series) advanced to the finals. The top 4 players after 12 games made the show.

SOURCE: http://www.bowlingdigital.com/bowling/node/20268

About

Emperor Divers has provided top quality diving holidays in the Red Sea since 1992. Superior customer care is our ethos and you can relax knowing that all your diving needs will run smoothly and that the instruction from the training arm of Emperor Divers - Emperor Scuba Schools - is second to none. The Schools include PADI 5 Star CDC (Career Development Centers), which means we are certified by PADI as providing the highest standard of education and professionalism, borne out by the ‘PADI Excellence in Dive Centers Award’.
Your hotel choice ranges from the Hilton to the Tropicana chains. Details of each hotel are on the resort pages and whichever Emperor resort you stay in, you’re well placed for both the diving and the hotel!

Contact

General reservations
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Clearly Emperor guests are very happy to book online and many have opted to use the system, but email and telephone is still available if you prefer to contact the helpful reservations department with your booking.

Going diving has never been so easy - easy to understand, easy to do and great diving once you get there! In just a few clicks of that little mouse, you could be on your way to one of their five resorts or fleet of safari boats. To prove the point, October’s prize draw winner booked his diving online, so not only was it easy, but also free! Well done to Eric Peters from The Netherlands who booked 3 x 5 day dive packs in Hurghada and gets his pack refunded.

Read more about Emperor Divers in Hurghada Business Directory
SOURCE: http://www.emperordivers.com/enews/000186.php

For many Europeans, traveling to the Red Sea for scuba diving is like many North Americans going to the Caribbean. For a scuba diver based in North America or anywhere else outside of Europe or Africa, a journey to the Red Sea is considered one of the more exotic scuba diving trips. Like other overseas travel, getting to the final destination is the hardest thing. The Red Sea can be dived from ports in both Egypt and Israel but most international scuba divers do so from the Egyptian side. There are two major scuba diving areas in Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada. Sharm El Sheikh at the northern part of the Red Sea is the more established center having been a popular vacation resort area as both Egyptians and Europeans have been vacationing here for many years. The local scuba dive industry grew along with the overall steady growth of classy resorts, shops and other tourist services in Sharm El Sheikh. Hurghada, once just a sleepy fishing village along the west side of the Red Sea, is starting to grow as scuba divers discover this alternative to Sharm El Sheikh.

More than likely, travelers going to either Sharm El Sheikh or Hurghada will have to fly to Cairo before connecting with Egypt Air or taking a bus to their final destination. Many scuba divers turn their Red Sea diving trip into a major extended holiday in order to both dive and see the many wonderful ancient Egyptian sites such as the pyramids. There are many things to see and do in Egypt in addition to the ancient ruins including museums, markets and Nile river cruises. So it is highly recommended to do some research and plan accordingly for any trip to Egypt as one would not want to run into the situation where not enough time was allocated to see everything one wants to see there in addition to scuba diving.

Many of the scuba operators in Sharm El Sheikh are affiliated or close by to a hotel resort. Most of the dive shops are actually owned and staffed by Europeans working in Egypt. This is similar to the situation in the Caribbean where many of the scuba operators there are American owned. The Red Sea has a higher salt content than Caribbean waters so it is recommended to add 4 to 5 more pounds to the amount of weight divers usually use. Like most European diving, the scuba community here in Egypt uses the metric system so weights will be in kilos while air pressure will be in bars. Most dive computers should be able to display both metric and imperial systems.

Many scuba operators in Sharm El Sheikh use a very interesting system for scuba tanks. Rather than using their own tanks, their dive boats go to a common central barge anchored in the harbor. This is where all the scuba tanks are supplied from and the dive boats collect the number of tanks they need for day’s dive trips. At the end of the trips, used tanks are dropped off at the same barge before heading back to port.

The majority of the dives in the Red Sea are semi drift dives where the dive boats drop off divers at the dive sites and then pick them up afterwards. One very different aspect of the Red Sea compared to other dive destinations in the world is that the coral reefs here can extend up to very shallow depths. As a result, the standard safety stops at 15 feet are done drifting among many of these sloping reefs along with the accompanying marine life. Therefore, these are some of the most scenic safety stops scuba divers will ever do. This is certainly different from the usual bland safety stop in the Caribbean. One thing to note is that the maximum allowable depth for recreational scuba divers in Egypt is 30 meters which is about 90 feet.

As expected, the marine life in the Red Sea is spectacular. There are many species of fish, crustaceans and marine plant life here that are not found in the Caribbean. In fact, many of them are indigenous to the Red Sea only. While lionfish can be extremely rare sightings elsewhere, they are quite abundant in the Red Sea which is a real treat for scuba divers. It is also not unusual to jump in the water to be among a large school of tuna or other fish. Many night divers will see coral reefs here to be more spectacular than in the Caribbean.

For many scuba divers, the Red Sea is one of those ‘must dive at least once in a lifetime’ destinations. It is a very unique place to dive especially with the desert background visible from the dive boats. The excellent diving with the many awesome sights of Egypt make the Red Sea a dream dive trip for any scuba diver.