SPORTS

Local player excels in British Open Squash

Dean Watson goes for a shot during the semi-finals

Watson’s opponent lunges for a ball during the final.
SquashPics.com

Tuesday,  November 1, 2005

After almost ten months of intensive training for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, local squash player Dean Watson needed to compete in a major tournament to check on his progress. 

Watson had been training with Mark Chaloner, currently ranked number 33 in the world, who recently moved to the Cayman Islands with his wife, Caroline, also a high calibre squash player.

Chaloner and Watson were both set to compete in the British Open. However, Chaloner was entered in the main event, while Watson preferred to enter in the over 35 category. Although not as tough as the open division, the over 35 group often features recently-retired professional players, and would therefore provide a stern test for Watson, without overwhelming him completely. 

Watson was however very aware that he had not had enough tournament practice to jump in at the deep end and face the professionals head on. After all, he had not played in a major tournament in more than ten years.
Watson was seeded 5/8 in the bottom half of the draw, which gave him hope of reaching a reasonable round in the tournament. 

Watson’s first match was against a Belgian (# 1) player. He won the match easily 3-0. His next match promised to be much more challenging, as he was going up against 3/4 seed Karl Hardy. 

Earlier this year, Hardy had gone down in a closely contested match against number one seed Gary Thwaite from Cumbria (UK) in the British Closed. Although Hardy proved a much more difficult opponent, Watson felt strong, and managed to beat the 3/4 sead 3-0 in 42 minutes.

In the semi-final, Watson came up against an old team mate from Basingstoke, Hampshire. The match was scheduled for the all-glass court at the National Squash Centre at Sportcity. 

For Watson, the first game was a disaster, as his nerves got the better of him and sapping all his energy. He lost the first game, which had most certainly not been part of his game plan. However, he soon settled down, and managed to take the next three games to take the match 3-1, and move on to the final.

According to his seeding, Watson was not supposed to have made it past the quarter finals, and his progress was starting to draw some attention to him.

The Masters final was played as a pre-game for the main event, the Men’s Open final. In the final, Watson came up against the number one seed, Gary Thwaite of the UK. Watson had a slow start to the first game, going down 8-1, which left him with an uphill battle to stay in the game. 

However, he managed to drag himself back to 8-8. But the effort took its toll on Watson, as he lost the game 10-8. However, as Watson started tiring, his opponent, who is known for his fitness, kept on going. Eventually, Watson had to concede defeat, as Thwaite took out the second and third games to close out the match.

With another four months of training ahead of him before the Commonwealth Games, Watson now has a much clearer idea of what he needs to do to lift his game to the required level. However, the signs thus far are promising indeed.

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