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Maurice Mosdell, Alastair Gunn and Martin Shippey went to the ISS Canary Wharf Classic semi finals last week, here are some pictures from their expedition!

Jon White and Thierry Lincou ....and for the sharp eyed amongst you -you can also see Alastair just above the 7 behind the front wall – he was manning the radar speed gun to measure the speed of Jon White’s drives. You can also make out Maurice in the front row of the forehand wall.

Nick Matthews and James Willstrop warming up – Alastair and Maurice still visible.

Alastair and Maurice in the bar.

Jon White and Thierry Lincou’s match was a bit of a dogfight, with Lincou desperately fighting for every point against White’s relentless 143 mph drives in a 95 minute battle to five games with two tie breakers. The Matthews and Willstrop tie was a complete contrast, a cat and mouse match of wits, stealth, reflexes and agility, with Matthews succumbing to some extremely unlucky bounces from a dead board at the rear of the backhand court, one of which, on an early game point, could well have cost him the match.

….and for info, Jamie Willstrop beat Jon White in the Final.

report from www.collegesquash.com

Michael played Julian Illingworth, Yale’s number one male player and seeded to reach the final. Michael immediately showed he has the game to put immense pressure on the talented Yale sophomore. Illingworth, who was not sharp at the outset, ran into a focused buzz saw in Ferreira, whose accuracy was totally on target, allowing him to jump on every Illingworth loose ball.

Ferreira ran to a fast 9-5 first game lead, and then an almost unbelieveable 9-0 second game against Illingworth. Ferreira continued to take advantage of Illingworth mistakes, steadily moving to a 2-0 7-2 lead; at which point his game plan tragically changed — he began looking to close out the points too quickly, and began clipping the top of the tin. In the third, it wasn’t that Illingworth really became inspired, though he did become steady as a rock and determined. It was a series of Ferreira mistakes that brought Julian steadily back into the game.

Once Ferreira had let Illingworth back in, at 7-7 in the third, Illingworth took charge. He closed out the third and gained more and more advantage throughout the fourth, as he closed out his near escape, 5-9, 0-9, 9-7, 9-7, 9-1.

Michael played at No.1 for Trinity against Gilly Lane (Freshman from Penn) and won 9-2,9-3,9-4. Trinity beat Penn comfortably 8-1.

However, a few days before Trinity were playing Yale and Michael lost at No.1 against Julian Illingworth (ranked one place below him at beginning of the season) – though Trinity won 6-3 overall.

Michael won the first two games of this semi-final against the No.1 seed El-Halaby from Priceton, 6-9, 7-9. However his best opportunity came when he served in the fourth game at 7-all. However, El-Halaby ran out that game when he hit a good ball that clung too tightly to the right wall to be returned by Michael. The Egypt-born Princeton freshman then won the fifth game 9-1 to take the match 3-2.

Last week, whilst the rest of the Trinity players won, Michael lost. So he is human after all – Michael won the first game 9-7 but then lost the next three games – 9-7,9-3,9-1.

For the full team match report CLICK HERE

Mike against Will Evans of Princeton

Meanwhile, Trinity College are National Champions for the 5th year running.

George Chase

He helped establish the Stamford Squash Club and founded the Mens Chase Cup.

A former general practitioner in Stamford, Lincolnshire (b Chesterfield 1914), he died on 15 February 2003. After a brief spell in practice in Newark, Harold moved to Stamford in 1943, where he worked until retirement in 1976.

He was always involved in sport, gaining a half blue for fives at Cambridge, and later in Stamford captaining the Burghley Park Cricket Club and establishing the Stamford Squash Club. After retirement, he lowered his golf handicap by playing regularly.

He had a profound Christian faith that helped him die at peace after a prolonged illness. He leaves behind his wife, Peggy; three children; and eight grandchildren.    [Derek Chase]

We are led to believe that before Christmas Michael was in Australia training with some of the best from times gone by. However, with all those beaches, glorious sunshine, plenty of bars and other distractions, is it true? Well, if his match last week was anything to go by – yes! He had a convincing win against Anschul Manchanda from Yale, 9-3, 9-1, 9-1.

However, most of the Trinity team had a convincing win so I’m sure there’ll be some tougher matches to come!