2023 NASH Cup – Finals
The week culminated in two fantastic finals. These players were well matches and, as the scores show, both finals were hard fought. The NASH Cup has now completed it’s 15th year, and this was the first time we have had a Canadian in both finals…..much less two Canadian champions. This will double the number of Canadian flags on the very colourful NASH Cup trophy. Hollie and David are Canada’s top ranked players and PSA ranking will update tomorrow with Hollie expected to remain #19 in the world and David expected to rise from #51 to #42 – a new career high.
The NASH Cup is a community effort with an unbelievably and involved committee who will start work on 2024 almost immediately. We are known globally for having a full and energetic crowd from round 1 and a big thank you goes out to all who have attended. And, of course, it would not be possible without our amazing sponsors:
Total Sponsor
NASH Family Wealth Management @ National Bank Financial
Major Sponsors
AutoMate; NASH Jewellers; OK Tire/Napa Auto Parts/Toyo Tires; Ontario SEO; Renaissance Investments; Scholars Education; and Sleeman Brewery
Supporting Sponsors
A-Team RE/MAX Hallmark; AutoVerify; Bristol Gate Capital Partners; DAGi; Dynamic Funds; Ferguson Patterson (FP) Law; Fidelity Investments; Game Day London; Mackanzie Investments; Matt Parr Mortgages; Manulife Investments; National Bank Investments; Picton Mahoney Asset Management; Scotiabank; SPM Benefits; Squash Ontario; Talbot Marketing; TLC Landscaping; Tourism London; Wilson-Ford Survey & Engineering; and Window Films Systems.
Patrons
Graham Leitch; Mark Ryan; Artur Naregatisian
The PSA is growing globally as an organization and the tournament calendar is full. There are nearly 1,500 ranked players, nearly double what there were when this event started in 2008.
Many NASH Cup men are moving on to a Challenger 20 event in Louisville that starts tomorrow; and the next big stop for both is the US Open in Philadelphia starting October 7th.
Planning for 2024 starts immediately and an announcement on the dates can be expected to be announced in October.
Thank you to everyone who has been involved in this great event, and to those who have been reading or watching online.
- Jay
Saturday Finals
6:30 Hollie Naughton (CAD; 19) bt Salma Eltayeb (EGY; 50) 3-2 – 5-11;6-11;11-5;11-5;11-7 (41m)
It’s Saturday night and finals night at Nash cup in London Ontario. Tonight we have our national treasure Holly Naughton Canadian # 1 and world # 19 versus young Egyptian Salma Eltayeb world #50 .
The crowd is pumped and the beer store dropped off a truck load of beer so this crowd and writer are excited.
Game 1 – a few lets to start as both players figuring each other out as this is their first meeting. A couple uncharacteristic errors from Holly and Salma jumps out to a commanding 7-2 lead . Salma hits some great hard low kills and takes game one 11-5.
Game 2- The young Egyptian is playing very calm and collective and not letting a home country crowd bother her. She is absolutely deadly with her forehand kills and jumps to a lead in the second game. Holly needs to find her rhythm and settle in. Salma is throwing everything she can at Holly and takes the 2nd game to go up 2-0.
Game 3 – Holly has come out a different player this game. She is really mixing it up now going short with deadly accuracy and moving Salma around. Salma won’t give an easy point though so Holly must keep to her tactics and keep attacking when she can. Holly takes the 3rd 11-5 and the crowd is going wild.
Game 4 – Holly is really taking the ball earlier and playing more to Salma’s backhand. Salma is coughing up some loose balls allowing Holly to attack. Holly goes up 4-1 and this crowd is being treated to some incredible squash. Holly looks amazing right now with some incredible drops and is really working that backhand. Salma is one serious competitor with incredible skill, but Holly is just more accurate this game and wins 11-5.
Game 5 – Everything this crowd asked for and then some! Salma is giving everything she has out here and it is fun to watch. Holly is sticking to her game plan and executing beautifully. Holly up 10-7 and we have a rally for the ages. Salma putting some serious pressure on Holly but Holly is retrieving everything running corner to corner and hits a perfect winner to win the match!!! What an incredible final and great squash !!!
Canada out !
8:00 Faraz Khan (USA; 53) v David Baillargeon (CAN; 51)
For the 15th time, we are about to crown a tournament champion, and the energy in the club is palpable. Taps are flowing and draining, and we are all anticipating greatness. On the men’s side, we’ve previously had one champion from each nation, who won in back to back years, Shawn Delierre in 2011, and Julian Illingworth in 2012. Tonight, one country will push ahead in the lifetime standings.
Khan and Baillargeon had no easy road to the finals, they were seeded 3rd and 4th respectively, and while Khan took his last 2 matches 3-0, in the quarter finals he was down 10-6 in the 5th to Edwin Clain, before fighting back. David took out last year’s finalist in the semis last night in a gruelling contest. So it’s safe to say both players fought valiantly and deserve the chance to have their name added to the trophy. LETS GO!
Game 1:
The match starts with a 40+ shot rally – a sign of what’s to come? Then Khan tins the trickle boast, and a stroke is awarded to David. He then punishes the weak shot from Khan and boxes him out to go short. This brings it to 4-1. The players are getting comfortable and feeling each other out, but the retrievals are great, which leads to many long rallies in the middle of the game. Theres a contested let from contact, which leaves Khan rubbing his head. But the next point comes from a great forehand volley kill in the front left corner from Baillargeon. He then progresses through in some great holds to take just enough time away from his opponent and wills the ball to die in the back corner. Khan fights back, but ultimately tins on game ball to give the first game to the Canadian.
Game 2:
We pick right back up, long rallies, and back and forth trading points.
After another tough long rally . David delivers a forehand volley winner just above tin – 4-3. He then repeats it to reach 5-3. Again, Khan fights back to tie it up at 5-5. There are a series of 3 or 4 rallies that end in contentious calls that have the crowd split. A ‘No Let’ followed by a stroke, then an error from DB has Kahn up 8-6. After fighting back to a tie, a bold backhand crosscourt is a winner, and the back wall nick strikes again to give Khan game ball! But another great hold from David catches Khan with a crosscourt and we are back tied again, at 10. Baillargeon has game ball, before Khan fights back to 12. After a quick point and fortunate tin, we’ve sealed the 2nd at 14-12! The match is now 1-1 and the crowd is on the edge of their seats.
Game 3:
We are already 41 mins deep after only 2 games. The punishing rallies continue and Khan sees success going short, which looks to put a high impact on Davids body, but time after time he recovers, retrieves, and finds a way to turn the momentum back in his favour. He delivers a great touch drop making Khan sprint from the back corner 3-2 in, then 6-4 after a razor sharp drop. Khan boldly crosses a serve return in the nick, and his opponent answers back. Yet another game of trading points, and short runs. At 9-8, Khan called his ball down that looked good to many of us in the audience. After many contested calls before, it was great to see both players own the decisions, and keep smiling. Both players are extremely spirited, but they clearly respect the game and their opponents. We see them call their own points more than once. Two quick points surprise this writer, as this game seemed to be in Khans control. It appeared David was tiring due to the intense movements he was forced into time and time again…note I said “appeared”…David fights to a tough 11-9 win. This was a huge moment in the match as both players have been pushed hard and gaining a 2-1 lead provided an important edge.
Game 4:
All of us are predicting a 5th, but the Canadian #1 sees an opening. He displays impressive cardio and recover between rallies, and we noticed he didn’t request a new ball at the end of game three. His incessant focus shoots him out to a 4-1 lead. Unfortunately then the live video feed went out and the viewers missed 2 unforced errors. Suddenly and now Khan is down 6-2. And then 8-2 but still smiling , congratulating good shots. It seemed at this point the American player may have mentally resigned to defeat, coming back from this gap at this level is extremely difficult, but we’ve seen it before. Khan falls to 2-9 after missing a low cross, and tinning an unforced error. On match ball the fight to remain in the game was apparent, but a quality cross to the back right corner is deemed unreturnable by Khan, and he rushes over to congratulate his opponent, who he also happened to be billeted with this week. There must be something in the water at the Brooks house.
David let out a roar, and the crowd is thrilled. A 2nd Canadian champion will be crowned tonight.
- Our Finals PSA Official – David Fishburn – had a full night making all the tough calls. He did a great job. During the trophy presentation David Baillargeon apologized for being animated on court. Squash can be an incredible emotional sport, and all four finalist got animated at one point or another…it’s part of the game. But these were all wonderful athletes who accepted that the official is in the right place to judge the call. The matches were a pleasure to watch and these players showed a great respect for each other and the game.
- Dave Howard and Bob Mansbridge were with us much of the week and did a great job!
- Squash Development – Thanks to our generous sponsors and a successful 50/50 draw over $9,000 was raise for developmental squash with funds going to the university league; western’s women’s program; and junior squash at London Squash.
