The biggest squash event in Norway in a long time thanks to Stig Olsen, Grays, Oslo squashklubb and all respective sponsors. For once I am given the so important wildcard into the main draw which means much needed ranking points and great matches.
Thursday 29. April I will be facing the Danish no1 Kristian Frost ranked 60 in the world. This will definitely be a tough match, but I feel ready for the challenge. BRING IT
First match done and dusted. I think the ciffers were 9-11, 10-12, 8-11 in the favour of the dane. It was a hot affair on a court that really strips my strengths and expose my weaknesses.
The rallies felt long, and I really tried to keep my head cool and stick to my game. I expected a higher pace from the top 100 player, but it seemed more like a controlled affair from his side. Rather controlling the ball in the corners instead of using pace.
On an already slow court, it really feeeeeeeeelt sloooooooooooooooowwww out there. It seems I was often on the defending end and a lot depended on him either making the errors or the winners. I hung in there as well as I could, but came out on the losing end on the end of every game. It was one of those matches where I was so focused, I don't remember much of the match. I remember a 5 minute rally in the 2nd game that I won.
A lot of positives, and a lot of things to work on. I had a good talk with the much experienced Stig Olsen after my match and went over a few valuable pointers for further improvement.
Next up is the local Grays tournament where I am 1st seed and have several tough matches in front of me in the coming days. Really looking forward to many days with a lot of good squash
So in the local tournament I was seeded to reach the final. It was a nice mix of local heroes, in the likes of the norse pakistani Shahab Hussain at 3 string, national heroes in Sindre Roaldsøy, up and coming heroes in Trym and Håkon, a swede and an english PSA player.
My first match was won comfortably against old friend and nemesis Svein Anders Haugen, who hoped to give me more trouble, but needed to give in for the fitness.
My next match was against Bristol based giant killer Håkon Standal who is also in the Norwegian selection. The kid proved he is the spot worthy with a solid performance, leading 9-6 in the first, but sadly had to let it go 11-9 in my favour. After some draining rallies in the second game, with no luck in to converting into points from his side, he got a bit de motivated and lost the next two games 11-2, 11-1.
This match was played on a traditional court and immediately I felt more in the zone again. Hitting the ball crisply and moving well.
The semi finals was against Adrian Østby, who is a norwegian/canadian playing PSA under the Norwegian flag. We might be able to use him in the national team, so it was nice to feel out his level.
He pushed me all the way on the glass court, where again I did not feel comfortable. I do not think he did either, so the momentum swung a lot. He one the first game after tie break and an unfortunate miss call by the normally very steady referee Stig Olsen, I won the second comfortably, and fought my demons to convert a third game in my favour. In the fourth I really tried, but my game plan was not sticking. in the fifth game he lunged in the front and seemed to hurt his achilles. An old injury was bothering Adrian and he did not move well in the 5th game. Well fought, well played, unfortunate in the end for him.
Tomorrow I face Steven London of England in the final which will be showed live on Norways biggest TV channel at 12.30. UNLEASH HELL!!! Ill send him home with yorkshire pudding between his legs
3. game.
Boastboastboastshitboast. This is the old Kim coming back into unfocused mode.
I worked so hard to get rid of this part of my game, where I get stressed and
boast unnecessary and open up the court for the opponent to take full
advantage. Mr London did well on his dropshots today and really punished me
whenever I hit it lose. That’s the way its supposed to be as well. 8 months out
of the professional game sets me back quite a bit, and although I wish in my 2
months back, I could be fully back, that’s not how it works. I still need time,
not just for the fitness, but handling these top players, the atmosphere,
crowd, referee, myself, opponent, pressure, court and everything around it. It
takes time. Some call it experience. 2-1 down.
Thursday 29. April I will be facing the Danish no1 Kristian Frost ranked 60 in the world. This will definitely be a tough match, but I feel ready for the challenge. BRING IT
First match done and dusted. I think the ciffers were 9-11, 10-12, 8-11 in the favour of the dane. It was a hot affair on a court that really strips my strengths and expose my weaknesses.
The rallies felt long, and I really tried to keep my head cool and stick to my game. I expected a higher pace from the top 100 player, but it seemed more like a controlled affair from his side. Rather controlling the ball in the corners instead of using pace.
On an already slow court, it really feeeeeeeeelt sloooooooooooooooowwww out there. It seems I was often on the defending end and a lot depended on him either making the errors or the winners. I hung in there as well as I could, but came out on the losing end on the end of every game. It was one of those matches where I was so focused, I don't remember much of the match. I remember a 5 minute rally in the 2nd game that I won.
A lot of positives, and a lot of things to work on. I had a good talk with the much experienced Stig Olsen after my match and went over a few valuable pointers for further improvement.
Next up is the local Grays tournament where I am 1st seed and have several tough matches in front of me in the coming days. Really looking forward to many days with a lot of good squash
So in the local tournament I was seeded to reach the final. It was a nice mix of local heroes, in the likes of the norse pakistani Shahab Hussain at 3 string, national heroes in Sindre Roaldsøy, up and coming heroes in Trym and Håkon, a swede and an english PSA player.
My first match was won comfortably against old friend and nemesis Svein Anders Haugen, who hoped to give me more trouble, but needed to give in for the fitness.
My next match was against Bristol based giant killer Håkon Standal who is also in the Norwegian selection. The kid proved he is the spot worthy with a solid performance, leading 9-6 in the first, but sadly had to let it go 11-9 in my favour. After some draining rallies in the second game, with no luck in to converting into points from his side, he got a bit de motivated and lost the next two games 11-2, 11-1.
This match was played on a traditional court and immediately I felt more in the zone again. Hitting the ball crisply and moving well.
The semi finals was against Adrian Østby, who is a norwegian/canadian playing PSA under the Norwegian flag. We might be able to use him in the national team, so it was nice to feel out his level.
He pushed me all the way on the glass court, where again I did not feel comfortable. I do not think he did either, so the momentum swung a lot. He one the first game after tie break and an unfortunate miss call by the normally very steady referee Stig Olsen, I won the second comfortably, and fought my demons to convert a third game in my favour. In the fourth I really tried, but my game plan was not sticking. in the fifth game he lunged in the front and seemed to hurt his achilles. An old injury was bothering Adrian and he did not move well in the 5th game. Well fought, well played, unfortunate in the end for him.
Tomorrow I face Steven London of England in the final which will be showed live on Norways biggest TV channel at 12.30. UNLEASH HELL!!! Ill send him home with yorkshire pudding between his legs
I just
finished watching the TV production of the final of Grays Cup vs Steven London
of England. Its good to see if the internal ideas of the match are somewhat
similar to the external perception. It seemed I enhanced the negative feelings
towards my own performance, but if you knew how much I wanted to win this
match, Im sure you will sympathize. The tactical errors and lose shots I
produced were crucial to how the match ended and it shows really how brutal the
game is. One error = one point down.
I started
hitting the ball well, volleying and stepping up on the T line. Keeping a good
base and varying my shots when given the opportunity. Still somewhat patchy,
but I felt the better player won the game. Im 1-0 up.
In the
second game I saw my accuracy level dropped. There was many balls around the
middle and towards the crucial part of the game, a few referees calls seem to
go to my head and I throw the game. Something that normally have not happened
to me since my junior days. A good analysis of Stig in the commentary box, who
hit the nail on its head. Easy loss. 1-1
3. game.
Boastboastboastshitboast. This is the old Kim coming back into unfocused mode.
I worked so hard to get rid of this part of my game, where I get stressed and
boast unnecessary and open up the court for the opponent to take full
advantage. Mr London did well on his dropshots today and really punished me
whenever I hit it lose. That’s the way its supposed to be as well. 8 months out
of the professional game sets me back quite a bit, and although I wish in my 2
months back, I could be fully back, that’s not how it works. I still need time,
not just for the fitness, but handling these top players, the atmosphere,
crowd, referee, myself, opponent, pressure, court and everything around it. It
takes time. Some call it experience. 2-1 down.
Steven
stepped up the court, and I stepped back. I needed to push up the court, volley
more and take control. I allowed Steve to step up and from there he hit good
length that forced my weak returns, that in the end won him the game. 11-8,
game and match
Hugely
disappointed in losing as this was a big occasion, but realizing where I am at
the moment, and that I need to catch up big time to get where I was this time
last year. However some things are better now than before. + and -, good bad
and ugly and f*************n hate losing. So many final losses lately. Lets
never have that happen again.
