Aqeel Rehman holt sich den Heimtitel!
The final of the Austrian Open in the EUROPARK shopping mall was the dream final between the top seed Christopher Binnie from Jamaica and local hero and number two seed Aqeel Rehman, who was also organising the event.
On the final day of the Austrian Squash challenge there was a busy schedule with a big raffle, a show programme of american football and a doubles exhibition.
At 16:30 it was time for the PSA final. There was a packed crowed with every single seat and spot in the gallery taken.
Both players started very solid with long basic rallies. Towards the end of the game it was Aqeel who managed to create a little lead and took the first game 11/7.
The next two games were very one sided to the Jamaican. Christopher kept playing very strong and solid, letting the Austrian Champion not pass him. Chris took the lead after winning game two and three 11/6 and 11/1.
It looked like Aqeel would not be able to turn around the game but he showed better focus in the fourth game. The rallies were very even again, with great effort of both players. The spectators saw intense rallies and lots of court coverage from the athletes.
At 8/7 to Chris there wa sa disputed pick up drop shot from Aqeel, who was sure the ball was up. However the referee was not sure and Chris show great sportsmanship to aknowledge the point to Aqeel.
Unfortunately for Chris it was somehow a turnig point as he lost the game 8/11 and in the fifth game it was also the local favorite who kept the momentum on his side, racing to a 7/2 lead. The Jamaican looked tired but he still made it very tense as he fought back point after point to 6/7. From then on it went point after point and the Austrian kept the slight two point lead until 10/8. Chris saved one match ball, but eventually Aqeel won the next rally to win the game 11/9 after 62 min. It was his eight PSA tour title and his second home win after 2013 when he overcame Chris Ryder.
Thanks to all the sponsors who made this event possible, especially the EUROPARK. The Austrian Squash Challenge was a two week event with many hands-on activities for the spectators and great advertising for the squash. Even national TV came around for some shooting!
The shopping mall and the city of Salzburg confirmed their will to host this event at least until 2019!
Please find more information on www.squash-im-europark.at and Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
there are some pictures from the austrian open final. This time the photographer was Christian Hofbauer and Martin Tollich.
Final result of the Austrian Open:
[2] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) – [1] Christopher Binnie (JAM) – 11/7, 6/11, 1/11, 11/8, 11/9 62min
