ElShorbagy brothers to clash after Marwan saves four match balls against Raphael Kandra
By MATT COLES – Squash Mad Correspondent

Egypt’s Raneem El Welily is into the semi finals of the Oracle NetSuite Open 2019 after knocking out the defending two-time champion Sarah-Jane Perry in straight games on the glass court at the spectacular Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco.

The pair had met ten times on the PSA World Tour, with their last meeting being that final in San Francisco in 2018, where Perry won an epic 57 minute battle 3-2. This clash started in a tight fashion, with neither player giving an inch.

It would be the World No.1 that would go on to take it 11-8, though, after reeling off a string of points in the latter stages of the game. From the start of the second game, it looked as if it would be finished in an instant, as El Welily took the first four points with consummate ease.

However, Perry fought back to take a 7-5 lead, only for the Egyptian to go on another run of four straight points. She went on to take the victory and avenge her defeat from this exact court a year ago.

“It just shows how strong the women’s tour is. Everyone is such a strong contender to win every tournament and everyone has chances to win,” El Welily said.

“I had to be prepared today because SJ is never an easy match, but I am glad it was 2-0. I almost lost that second game but I recovered well to get off in two.

“The court is a little dead so hitting it hard is one way to get it to the back. It is not the only way but this is what I tried to do today and I am glad it worked.

“I love it [San Francisco]. It is absolutely fantastic and the atmosphere here is amazing as always. The weather has also been great since we arrived as well!”

El Welily will face India’s Joshna Chinappa in the semi finals on Sunday, after she got the better of New Zealand’s World No.6 Joelle King in three games. Chinappa and King both train in England, at the Elite Squash Academy in Bristol.

King ran out into an early lead, taking the first five points. However, Chinappa fought back, and she eventually took the first game 11-9. Once again, the Kiwi constructed an early lead in the second, but this time she held on to take it 11-6 to send the match into a decider.

The World No.13 came out fighting in the third, and she would go on to take the victory with relative ease, restricting King to just three points, as she booked her place in the semi finals.

A delighted Chinappa said: “It is great to have home support wherever I play, and especially here, it is the most support that I have ever had playing overseas so I have to thank them for supporting me. I really appreciate it!

“I am now training with Hadrian Stiff and having fresh ideas and new things to work on has made the difference for me in the last year or so.

“Joelle also trains in Bristol so we play each other quite often. We have had a lot of big battles in the last eight months and I feel really lucky that I came out on the right side tonight.”

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In the men’s draw, Egypt’s World No.2 Mohamed ElShorbagy is through to the last four of the tournament after defeating Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly in straight games.

The pair had met five times previous on the PSA World Tour, with both players having won one of the previous two encounters, while the Egyptian had the 4-1 advantage.

Cuskelly had beaten the tournament’s No.1 seed at the Tournament of Champions in January 2018, and ElShorbagy had studied that match to get the upper hand over the left-hander. The Egyptian came out firing, winning the first five points, and although the Aussie tried to fight back, ‘The Beast’ had too much power and took the first game 11-5.

The World No.20 tried to fight back in the second game, and went out into an early lead, but it was not to be, as ElShorbagy came firing back to take the victory in just 20 minutes.

“He is a great player, he hits the ball really nice and at the Tournament of Champions when he beat me, he played such unbelievable squash to beat me,” ElShorbagy explained.

“There are times when you lose matches because you have not played very well, but there are also times when you lose matches because your opponent has got the right tactics. I had to study that match to work out what happened, so I am happy that I was able to beat him today.

“Me and Marwan played each other in Shanghai, we have played each other so much. We have played against each other in so many venues, but this will be the first time we play against each other in this venue and I hope it will be a good match.”

The World No.2 will now face younger brother Marwan ElShorbagy in the last four in San Francisco, after the ‘Jackal’ overcame Germany’s Raphael Kandra in a thrilling encounter, as he saved four match balls in the deciding game before taking the victory. 

Kandra himself faced match ball down in the second but saved it with a dazzling drop shot into the nick after the ball had landed in mid-court.

All three games were tight, and the talented Kandra will be disappointed at failing to land another big result after gaining his first victory over fellow German Simon Rosner in the previous round. 
 
Oracle NetSuite Open 2019, Embarcadero Plaza, San Francisco, USA.

Men’s Quarter Finals (Top Half):
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [8] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 2-0: 11-5, 11-6 (20m)
[5] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Raphael Kandra (GER) 2-1: 12-10, 10-12, 13-11 (45m)

Women’s Quarter Finals (Top Half): 
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt [5] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 2-0: 11-8, 11-8 (21m)
[8] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt [4] Joelle King (NZL) 2-1: 11-9, 6-11, 11-3 (35m)

Men’s Quarter Finals (Bottom Half, today):
[4] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) v Alan Clyne (SCO)
[6] Joel Makin (WAL) v [2] Tarek Momen (EGY)

Women’s Quarter Finals (Bottom Half, today):
[3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v [6] Amanda Sobhy (USA)
[7] Tesni Evans (WAL) v [2] Camille Serme (FRA)

Men’s Semi Finals (Bottom Half, Sunday 29 September)
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v [5] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)

Women’s Semi Finals (Bottom Half, Sunday 29 September)
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [8] Joshna Chinappa (IND) 

Report by MATT COLES (PSA). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.

Pictures courtesy of PSA 

Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards has told his players that Sunday's World Cup match against Australia is one they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Captain Alun Wyn Jones will become Wales' record cap holder in Tokyo when he plays his 130th Test for his nation.

Jones said there had been blood spilled in training this week and Edwards admitted there has been an extra "edge" in the build-up to the Wallabies clash.

ROSSBURG, Ohio – Tossing fear out of the cage on his way out to qualify Friday night, Kevin Thomas Jr. ripped off a lap around Eldora Speedway good enough to give him the pole for Saturday’s USAC Silver Crown Series season finale.

Driving the Chris Dyson Racing No. 9, Thomas toured the legendary half-mile dirt oval in a lightning-quick 16.054 seconds (112.122 mph). He was the final car among the 27 entrants to post a qualifying time Friday night.

The qualifying session began near midnight, after a rain shower following World of Outlaws hot laps delayed the proceedings for more than an hour.

Thomas will have nothing but clean track in front of him on Saturday evening when the 38th annual 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv goes green at Eldora, as he chases his first Silver Crown victory in his debut ride for team owner Chris Dyson.

Thomas will have a familiar face alongside him, as Jason McDougal – who served as Thomas’ roommate when he first moved to the Indianapolis area – will start on the front row alongside his friend and mentor.

McDougal, fourth from the end in the qualifying order, was just .016 seconds behind Thomas’ fast lap with a time of 16.070 seconds (112.010 mph) behind the wheel of the No. 56 Foxco Racing entry.

Driver points leader Kody Swanson, the first car out to qualify, ended up third fastest over the team he’s chasing in Nolen Racing’s pursuit of the owner’s title – the No. 6 Klatt Enterprises car of Brady Bacon.

Justin Grant completed the fast five for Hemelgarn Enterprises, followed by Chris Windom, Chad Kemenah, Kyle Robbins, Ronnie Wuerdeman and C.J. Leary.

Swanson will officially clinch his fifth Silver Crown driving title Saturday night by presenting his Nolen Racing No. 20 on the feature grid for competition. If Bacon finishes fourth or better, the Klatt team will lock up the owner’s championship.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS: USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series; Eldora Speedway; Sept. 27, 2019

Qualifying: 1. #9 – Kevin Thomas Jr., 16.054; 2. #56 – Jason McDougal, 16.070; 3. #20 – Kody Swanson, 16.176; 4. #6 – Brady Bacon, 16.250; 5. #91 – Justin Grant, 16.321; 6. #17 – Chris Windom, 16.366; 7. #15 – Chad Kemenah, 16.445; 8. #7 – Kyle Robbins, 16.483; 9. #33 – Ronnie Wuerdeman; 16.523; 10. #10 – C.J. Leary, 16.548; 11. #97 – Tyler Courtney, 16.562; 12. #18 – Travis Welpott, 16.992; 13. #40 – David Byrne, 17.048; 14. #123 – Jimmy Light, 17.074; 15. #53 – Steve Buckwalter, 17.078; 16. #66 – Bill Rose, 17.094; 17. #57 – Dallas Hewitt, 17.138; 18. #47 – Austin Mundie, 17.143; 19. #78 – Eric Gordon, 17.192; 20. #16 – Austin Nemire, 17.272; 21. #24 – Mike Haggenbottom, 17.279; 22. #34 – Terry Babb, 17.378; 23. #43 – John Heydenreich, 17.448; 24. #81 – Shane Cottle, 17.456; 25. #39 – Matt Goodnight, 17.569; 26. #31 – Dave Berkheimer, 18.941; 27. #54 – Matt Westfall, NT.

ROSSBURG, Ohio – Logan Schuchart told World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series pit reporter Blake Anderson prior to Friday night’s feature that he was “tired of finishing second” at Eldora Speedway.

Schuchart did something about that weariness by leading all 30 laps to win the BeFour The Crowns Showdown at the Tony Stewart-owned half-mile dirt track, doing so in commanding fashion.

The Hanover, Pa., native swept the night en route to his eighth World of Outlaws win of the season, setting the overall fast time in qualifying, winning his Drydene heat race, topping the DIRTvision Fast Pass Dash and then going from wire to wire to reign victorious come feature time.

That feature actually finished up during the early hours of Saturday morning, after a rain delay following the conclusion of hot laps slowed up the proceedings for two and a half hours before racing resumed.

None of that was of any consequence to Schuchart, however. His Shark Racing-prepared No. 1s was bullet-quick all night long, and the driver inside was wheeling it with a bit of a chip on his shoulder.

“Man, we just came here with the attitude that this place owed us one,” said Schuchart, who finished second to Brad Sweet in July’s Kings Royal before tasting victory this time around. “It was kind of rough watching those videos (on the track big-screen TV) earlier. I walked up and was talking to guys … my mom (Dana), Bill (Klingbeil, Schuchart’s father-in-law) and everybody and it just stung to watch that video over and over again. It’s not like I haven’t watched it enough the last few months.

“That loss is still going to sting for a while, but we definitely came back hungry. This car was a rocket ship tonight.”

Schuchart’s victory, the second of his career at Eldora, tied him with David Gravel for the third-most on the World of Outlaws tour this season. It’s a career year that still has Schuchart in disbelief, himself.

“This Drydene Performance Products race team and everybody that’s part of it has done amazing things this year. It’s just awesome to see it all,” he noted. “To have a year like this and to win races with the World of Outlaws is very, very tough. So to win eight of them and get another one here at Eldora doesn’t just mean a lot to me, it’s a testament to my hard-working crew and I know it means a lot to them also.”

The roll of Schuchart’s No. 1s was only slowed by a handful of incidents during the 30-lap feature, and after two hard flips – one by Wayne Johnson on the initial start and a second by Brady Bacon with two laps scored – the decision was made to go to single-file restarts for the remainder of the program.

That allowed Schuchart to assert his dominance even more, as he raced away from the majority of his pursuers while Aaron Reutzel fought forward from fourth to become Schuchart’s closest competition.

Reutzel took second from Carson Macedo on the lap-three restart and dogged Schuchart for the rest of the night, cutting the gap down from nearly two second on the seventh revolution to just a half-second by lap 11 as Schuchart found himself pinned in heavy lap traffic.

At halfway, Schuchart led Reutzel, Sheldon Haudenschild, Macedo and Kerry Madsen, but as the race wore into its second half, Schuchart’s car got better and better.

Though Reutzel tried to stay with Schuchart, the driver of the Baughman Reutzel Motorsports No. 87 could only watch helplessly as Schuchart picked off slower cars with virtual ease and pushed the gap back out to 1.174 seconds by the time the twin checkered flags waved over the field Friday night.

Behind Schuchart and Reutzel, Haudenschild hung on to complete the podium, followed by Madsen and Macedo.

Brad Sweet crossed sixth and reclaimed the World of Outlaws point lead by four markers over Donny Schatz, who had to race his way in through the Last Chance Showdown, finished a distant 17th and lost 22 points in the season-long battle for supremacy.

Schatz led by 18 points coming into the Eldora event.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

Sri Lanka T20I captain Chamari Atapattu will encourage her team to take a positive approach against Australia and not be overawed by the challenge of facing such a powerful side on their home turf.

The three-match series begins at North Sydney Oval on Sunday with the form book suggesting that the matches will be one-sided affairs with Australia pulling away at the top of tree in the women's game after a 12-month period that has seen them win the T20 World Cup, beat New Zealand, retain the Ashes convincingly and, most recently, go unbeaten in the Caribbean.

But Atapattu has a simple message for her players: "I always told my girls, play freely, play positive."

"We all know Australia are the best team in the world, they've beaten England in the Ashes and West Indies in their home," she pointed out. "We will try to play to our potential and play our normal game. Our preparation has been really good in Sri Lanka, we have good players, some experience and some new players. If we play our normal, free game we have a chance."

There is a bigger picture, too, for Sri Lanka with this tour offering valuable preparation ahead of next year's T20 World Cup in Australia. Sri Lanka are in a tough group for that tournament alongside the hosts, India, New Zealand and Bangladesh.

"This tour is very important for us because of the T20 World Cup in February so it's good preparation, playing the best team in the world in their home conditions," Atapattu said. "We have brought a couple of players to try before the T20 World Cup so it's a good opportunity for us."

Atapattu, along with the experienced Shashikala Siriwardene, who takes over the captaincy for the ODIs which follow in Brisbane, will be key in the batting with Atapattu also picking out 21-year-old Harshitha Madavi as a batsman to watch. "The T20 format is very open. We have a good batting unit. I've played KSL, Big Bash and IPL overseas in this format so have good experience so I share my knowledge with our batters," Atapattu added.

The last time these two sides met was during the 2017 World Cup in England when Atapattu scored a brilliant 178 - an innings which she said "changed my life" - and this is only the second bilateral series between the teams following Australia's 2016 tour.

Australia's vice-captain Rachael Haynes admitted that there is an element of the unknown that they have to deal with. "We don't play a lot of cricket against Sri Lanka so to have a standalone series is unique in its own respect," she said. "The last time we played them was a couple of years ago at the World Cup where Atapattu got a pretty decent hundred against us, so we won't be underestimating them at all."

There is a strong chance that every player in Australia's squad will be given an outing during the three matches with an eye on next year's T20 World Cup. That would mean a debut for Heather Graham, who took 3 for 17 for the Cricket Australia XI in Sri Lanka's warm-up match on Friday which the Sri Lankans won in a Super Over.

"The team showed their hand a little with that in series gone by [against West Indies] and it's good to see players like Erin Burns get an opportunity," Haynes said. "Heather Graham was unlucky to miss out in the Caribbean. Given there is a World Cup coming up, without getting too far ahead of ourselves potentially there will be opportunities for players to play different roles at different stages. That's exciting for our team."