02 Nov 2020
Doha, 2 November 2020. Aspire Graduate and Qatar star squash player Abdulla Al Tamimi opened his campaign in the 2020 Qatar Classic tournament with a thrilling win over England’s Patrick Rooney on Sunday 1st November at Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar. Al Tamimi prevailed in 5 games, 10-12, 11-3, 11-8, 8-11, 11-3 in just under an hour to sail through to the round of 32 where he will play Peru’s Diego Elias.
The Aspire graduate, Al Tamimi is the highest ranked Qatari squash player of all time and after the match said, “It’s tough playing here at home,” Al Tamimi and I need to raise my level always, I just want to make the whole country proud. I had some great performances last year, so I had a lot of pressure on me coming into this first round, especially with the lockdown we’ve been having because of COVID-19. I haven’t had any matches since February in Chicago. I only played one match against Tarek (Momen) in Manchester and when I came back, I had to do two weeks quarantine, so all that work went for nothing. The errors l made today are from a lack of playing matches and I’m glad I got through this one. I’m sure against Diego I’ll be a lot sharper. Diego and l are good friends and I’m really looking forward to it.”
“It’s always a good week of international squash here in Qatar, it’s one of the best tournaments on tour, if not the best, because of the organisation and all the history of the game here in Doha,” said, Al Tamimi
Fellow Aspire graduate, Syed Azlan Amjad who had a wildcard into the tournament, that’s featuring the world’s top eight players bowed out to Egypt’s Mohamed El Sherbini. Azlan pushed the experienced and world No 35 ranked El Sherbini in the first match of the 2020 Qatar Classic to take place on the glass court but lost out 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 in the end.