Aug 4th 2009
July 09 League Summary
Once again we had a strong month in terms of participation despite vacation season and boiling hot temperatures. Maybe the latter made the club a nice cool place to escape the "severe" weather. Overall 35 players competed this month.
At the top end there has been an interesting change in "leadership". Arup Saha decided to join the league again after a short initial visit a few months back. He immediately secured the top spot which is a clear indication of his level of play despite Kartik Gopal's almost perfect ranking. In the end Kartik finished in close 2nd place only separated by a single point. Another player to pay close attention to is Adam Rafalovich. He showed the strongest performance against Arup this month, winning two games. In my book he is another "rising star" in this league. For sure competition at the top end has been picking up during recent months.
The 2nd box was dominated by three players: Sandeep Dube, Brian Daellenbach, and Jan Halvorsen. Their final points were within a single point. In the end Jan Halvorsen finished 3rd separated by a single game in this "musical chairs" event. Santokh Khalsa showed a solid performance. I am confident that soon you will see his ranking confirming his position. Also Andres Ariza got pretty close to securing his place in the 2nd box. Not much was missing.
Box number three turned into the box of "the couples". Rupesh Shelar and Sada Srinivasan tied at 24, Raymund Mui and Shane Oren with each 15, and not tied but very close Ken Kawaiwaiaea and Chris Evans. All matches except one were played. Good job!
Winning the 4th box, Ivan Castellanos showed a very strong performance this month. In 2nd place landed Dale Walker. Overall competition was very good and this box certainly was not the place for "free lunch". Every game counted here.
Box E was lead by Diana Augspurger. She didn't allow any of her opponents to win a complete match and in the end just sacrificed three games during the whole month. Very close to a perfect score. Also very strong was Chuck Scott. Only Diana was able to hold him back. The race for the safe-spot was between Jason Giddings and Steven Bory. In the end Jason brought it home with the slimest margin.
In Box F let's welcome back Jane Cerna and congratulate her to the family addition. From the start she was able to win against the two top ranked players in her box, Bruce Hergert and Greg Kautz. In the end she ran out of time which is understandable in her situation. I have heard time can be very precious.
Everyone keep up the fun and happy squashing in August. I can't wait to rejoin in September.
See you at the courts!
Milan
