The first ever Tucson Games (part of the Grand Canyon Summer games) were held the week-end of June 4-5th. The event had a very international flavor and should have almost been called Tucson International games as the Arizona residents hailed orignally from Pakistan, India, Peru, Canada, England, Israel, Mexico and of course the USA taking part.
There was an A, B and C event with 8 players per catagory (maximum entry) . For a city with just 3 squash court, 2 at the JCC (venue for the Tucson Games) and 1 at the U of A, there was a fantastic level of play. Phoenix look out the boys from Tucson are coming!
The highly entertaining A event was anybody’s for the taking. A very strong 8 played , 4 local players and 4 Phoenix players. In his first round #1 seed and local Larry Kaye narrowly deafeated Darin Randles (Phoenix) in 5 games but then played #4 seed Alan Knobloch (Phoenix) in another 5 set thriller losing this time ofter being 2 games up. The 1 hour 20 minutes match against Darin surely had a say in the result. Alan having had a comfortable win over local Peter Reinthal. In Peter’s defence he was also the tournament coordinator.
The other half of the draw also had some great matches. #3 seed O.V Singh (Tucson) taking Marwan Maalouf (Phoenix) in 4 hard games. kaleem Beg (Phoenix) #2 seed and youngest player in the A event beat local player Peter Ryan the oldest A player in straight games. Age surely has something to do with this one. Kaleem then went on to beat O.V Singh in the much awaited Pakistan vs India match with Kaleem winning in straight games.
In the finals Kaleem beat Alan in straight games and thus taking the first Tucson Games title to Phoenix. O.V Singh then beat Larry Kaye in 4 games to take 3rd place. Larry’s 2 and half hours matches had taking their toll.
Gold winner Kaleem Beg (Phoenix) Silver Alan Knobloch (Phoenix) Bronze O.V Singh (Tucson)
The B event proved what a great talent Tucson has. Jay Gould #1 seed from Phoenix only just won his fist match in 5 games against Ron Ben-Dov (Tucson) but then lost his semi-final match in straight games to Joe Schmeider (Tucson), who in his previous round beat Kenny laguna(Tucson) in 3. Tina Fuselli (Phoenix) #2 seed also won her first match but then lost to Peruvian Manuel Gadea(Tucson) in straight games, who beat Weston Montrose (Phoenix) in the previous round also in straight games. In the finals Manuel came back from 2 games down to win in 5.
Gold winner Manuel Gadea (Tucson) Silver Joe Schmeider (Tucson) Bronze Jay Gould (Phoenix)
C event also had some great results. #1 seed Lee Hilton (Tucson) losing to late entry Richardo Ruiz in 3. John Evans (Tucson)the oldest player in the whole tournament beat Lance Labun (Phoenix) in straight games. In the other half of the draw another upset was had with #2 seed Chris Janton (Tucson) losing in 4 to Mike Evans(Tucson) the son of John. Joey Schmeider (Tucson) (the son of B Silver medalist Joe Schmeider and the second father and son entry)had a bye in his first round after his opponent had to forfeit and unfortuanetly no replacement could be found at short notice. In the semi- finals Richardo progressed beating John Evans but Mike made up for a non father and son finals by just beating Joey in straight games 9-6, 9-7, 10-8. In the finals Mike put up a great fight but Richardo took the title in 3 but the scorelines show either could have won 9-7, 10-8, 10-8. Mike’s earlier soccer match may have taken its toll. John Evans then took on Joey for bronze and again only just won 9-6, 10-9, 10-8.
Gold winner Richardo Ruiz Silver Mike Evans Bronze John Evans
A consolation event was also held for all forst round losers Marwan Maalouf beat Darin Randles in 5 ( maybe Darin should not have had a bet with O.V one game loser buys the drinks) to win the A’s Ron Ben-Dov beat Weston Montrose in 4 for the B’s Chris Janton beat Lee Hilton in 3 for the C event
Congratualtions to all players and thenk you to the JCC for making the first Tucson Games a great success.
See you all next year!
