They say when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

UCSC's Marcus PHUA proved this cliche to be so true when he played scintillating squash to successfully defend the Petaling Jaya Open crown he first won last year.

In 2010, Marcus had then overcome Malaysia's highly rated Nafzahizam ADNAN  (popularly caled "Zam") during their semi-final. Many had then thought it was a one-off 'fluke' but Marcus proved this to be otherwise when in 2 other tournaments earlier this year, he overcame Zam in both by 3-0 and 3-2.

This year's PJ Open 2011 Final (Sep 22 -25) was another exciting encounter which saw the two finalists almost in lockstep throughout the 5 nail-biting sets which eventually saw Marcus deservedly triumph 14-12, 8-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-9. The match lasted 1 hour 40 mins and according to Marcus, fitness was the differentiator. Our heartiest congratulations to Marcus!

In his earlier matches, Marcus had to fend off a surprisingly tenacious challenge in the first round from a determined Mark LOW, with Marcus coming back from 2 sets to 1 down before cruising home in the last 2 sets over a tired opponent. Marcus then made short work of Andrew CROSS in the 2nd round, winning in 3 quick straight sets. The 3rd round and first Semi-Final was expected to be a cracker as Marcus faced up to his recent SSRA Men's A Grade Individual conqueror, Vivian RHAMANAN. This was where the going was supposed to get tough. Viv had triumphed 3-0 in an unexpectedly lopsided Singapore event then and was expected to severely test the PJ Open defending champion. It was however, a bit of an anti-climax as Marcus overturned the Singapore result to exact sweet revenge with a 3-0 (5, 8, 6) straight sets win to set up a Final meeting with Zam. This was where the tough got going.

UCSC and Marcus PHUA Live & Breathe Squash!

Francis Chew writes:

First of all, special thanks to a very sporting Bullion Park team which graciously agreed to play their 'Home' match at Hume Park 2 instead of at Bullion Park. They are such good sports to want to ensure that a Squash4All player did not have to concede a walk-over. Squash4All had two Primary 6 players who were in the midst of term examinations, another 2 players overseas and one injured. As a result, Squash4All managed to field a full team. Onto the match report!

First tie (No.3):

TAN Ijoe (having exams the following day) lost to Lilian KWOK by 0-3. Likely to be under exam stress and unable to destress in court, the exam bug must have gotten to Ijoe. There were some excellent rallies but the feisty Bullion Park lady player, Lilian, played well, reaching every shot Ijoe threw her way and even out-hitting the young, strong lad.         Scores: 7-11, 6-11, 3-11

Second tie (No.1):

Without exam stress to weigh him down, Francis CHEW levelled proceedings when he beat Bullion's Christopher BREACH by a similar 3-0 scoreline. Scores: 11-6, 11-8, 11-7

Third tie (No. 2):

The other exam victim, young Bryan Tan lost narrowly to PHUA Yong Peng by 2-3. The first game was a closely fought affair with Bryan engaging in long rallies and sneaking home 13-11. The second game again saw Bryan continuing to strike the ball well with excellent placements made out of Yong Peng's reach resulting in a deserving 11-7 win for a 2-0 sets lead. However, recent examinations took their toll on the young lad and with a whole week off without practice and training, Bryan fizzled out in the next 2 games (3-11, 3-11) and although he ran spiritedly for every ball, Yong Peng drew level to bring the tie into a deciding rubber. Before the rubber, veteran player and ardent supportter, Eddie Chan, tried to help young Bryan compose himself, offering some useful tips.However, Yong Peng was simply too experienced and Bryan had to concede again by a 3-11 score in the final set.

Fourth tie (No.4):

It was down to YIP Yun Sheng to save the day (or night) for Squash4All. Unfortunately, Yun Sheng was up against a good and experienced player in Bullion Park's LIM Ann Lee who gave Yun Sheng little chance in the first set with a clean sheet of 11-0. To Yun Sheng's credit, he did not give up and in the 2nd set, played much better and more aggressively, chasing down every ball even though he eventually went down by a creditable 7-11 scoreline ....Close but not closed. An unfortunate incident occurred in the 3rd set when Ann Lee was perhaps keeping his eye too closely on the ball. A shockingly loose shot from Ann Lee to the centre of the court, saw left-handed Yun Sheng turn to hit the ball straight into Ann Lee's eye and time-out was called to assess the damage. Thankfully, the injury was not serious and Ann Lee still managed to keep one eye on victory as he went on to close out the tie quickly, winning 11-4. 

So, Bullion Park finished a deserving 3-1 winner overall, but to Squash4All, Bullion was an even bigger winner for their sportsmanship and friendship in which the real winner was the game of squash. Thank you, Bullion and till we meet again.

UCSC (and Squash4All) Lives & Breathes Squash!

Having shown such courage and tenacity in beating a highly-ranked member of the formidable Egyptian squash army to reach the top eight of the BJO 2011 BU-15, the precociously talented Ka Hoe crossed swords with yet another young Egyptian squash 'pharoah' in the form of the category's No. 2 seed, Youssef Aboul MAKARIM, in one of the quarter-finals played in Abbeydale (UK) yesterday.

Singapore and UCSC flags flew high as PANG Ka Hoe (seeded 17 - 32) played above himself in the British Junior Open 2011 Boys' Under-15 (BU-15) category to beat a member of the formidable Egyptian entourage, Karim TAREK (seeded 9 - 16) by a scoreline of 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9 in 50 minutes to earn a spot in the quarter-finals. The win was particularly impressive as TAREK is said to be the Egyptian BU-15 No. 2 and could have been seeded much higher than 9 - 16 officially accorded him for this BJO 2011 event.