Home hero Tom topples Mosaad
Tom Richards (Eng) 3-1 [8] Omar Mosaad (Egy) 10-12, 11-7, 13-11, 11-2 (61m)
What a better place for Tom Richards than his home club – he learned to play squash here 30 years ago I kid you not – to produce his best performance for a few years now.
It started not that well for the English against the Hammer of Thor, as the Egyptian zoomed at 4/1 pretty rapidly. But Tom was playing with no fear, no pressure, and most importantly, no pain, no niggle.
8/8, 9/9, a bit too much from the St George’s man, going for too much too soon, and it’s the Giant that takes the 19m opener, 12/10.
The second is close up to 7/7, with the English finding superb fast attacks imposing his own game while Mosaad is struggling with that extremely fast pace and loses accuracy, 11/7 in 10m.
The third is truly the turning point. Mosaad is edging a couple of points from 4/4, 8/5, 9/7, only to be caught out 9/9. Mosaad gets a chance to lead 2/1, 10/9, but this time round, it’s the Egyptian that goes for too much, finding the tin and getting the ball out of court, 13/11 in 21m.
The fourth, extremely weird. It like Omar just couldn’t find his way in his own mind. He didn’t seem injured but it was like the whole body got into a halt. For a few months now, I feel that he has just lost the way to victory, the habit of wining.
Tom on the other hand, is renewing with the feeling, and he is enjoying every second of it.
It has been coming for a few years, I felt like I’ve been playing well again over the last year and a half. I’ve been close to getting a couple of scalps, but I felt really good there. I was playing well and I feel fit and strong.
I guess everyone when they get written off they like to prove people wrong. I’m not one to play with a chip on my shoulder or anything like that, but I like to think a couple of people might look at that and think that they probably made the wrong decision when they cut my fundings.
It all comes down to that feeling when you win, that’s why you spend so many hours in the rehab gym and work so hard. Touch wood, I haven’t been injured for a year and a half now, and if when I came back I thought I could compete with the players at my level, now I feel that my base platform is good enough to compete with the top guys.
