Everybody has gone home now so it is left to me to round up the event, reports Barry Brindle …
The Gibraltar PSA Open was combined with a number of local competitions running over 7 days. Apart from the PSA professionals there were also teams from the Army and the Andalucian Federation. Over 140 matches were played culminating in final between the number 1 seed, Peter Creed and the number 2 seed Arthur Gaskin of very high quality ending in a hard fought 3-0 win for Peter.
In the semi finals Johan Bouquet had to retire with a damaged shoulder in his match against Peter and Dan West finally ran out of steam against Arthur after two five game matches the day before, losing 3-0.
Earlier in the competition Gibraltar’s two regular coaches Jakob Dirnberger (who got off his sick bed to travel to Gibraltar) and Ben Ford (in his last ever PSA event) surprisingly lost in the first round which was a great disappointment for the home supporters and players.
This disappointment was made easier to accept due to the high quality of squash provided by the PSA players and the excellent way all of them integrated into and supported remainder of the Gibraltar Open competitions and socialised with all the other players and supporters.
It is alleged but not proven that the winner found himself on one of the Gibraltar beaches in the early hours of Sunday morning. Surprisingly he cannot remember anything that happened after leaving the club at 3am!!!
This was an excellent tournament, thoroughly enjoyed by all the local, Army, Andalucian and PSA players and supporters and played in an excellent spirit with a perfect balance between fun and professionalism. All players should be congratulated
This is the first time Gibraltar has held a PSA event; it won’t be the last.
Barry Brindle
President, GSA
Creed collects on the Rock
Welsh top seed Peter Creed claimed his second PSA title with victory in the inaugural Gibraltar Open.
It was a great experience for the local players to take on seasoned professionals in the qualifying competition, but none made it through to the main draw which saw four rounds played over Friday and Saturday.
Creed came through to the final with two straight game wins followed by a quick semi-final over Johan Bouquet, who had beaten third-seeded compatriot Geoffrey Demont on Friday. Bouquet was forced to retire after one game, putting Creed through to the final.
In the bottom half of the draw Irish second seed Arthur Gaskin also enjoyed untroubled progress to the semi-finals, where he met England’s Dan West, who like Bouquet had beaten a seeded compatriot on the first day. West’s 80-minute 12-10 in the fifth win over Ben Ford was followed up with a 74-minute comeback win against Reuben Phillips, so he could probably be excused any tiredness in the semi-final, which Gaskin won in straight games.
Creed sneaked home 13-11 in the first game of the final, then took the next two 11-7, 11-5 to claim victory in just under the hour mark.
“Very happy to come home with my 2nd title,” said the champion on Twitter. “Tough match, but fought hard. Win meant allot with Papa In the crowd #emotional.”
Then this morning he added: “Little rough this morning, but I’m smiling. Winning cures hangovers.”
