squash rackets

squash rackets
squash

* * *

▪ 1995

      The dominance of Jansher Khan of Pakistan and Michelle Martin of Australia continued throughout 1994. Both retained their British Open titles in April and their world championships later in the year. Khan was untroubled throughout the men's World Open, staged in Barcelona, Spain, in September, and accumulated his fifth title when he beat Peter Marshall (England) 10-15, 15-11, 15-8, 15-5 in the final. Martin won her world championship in Guernsey, Channel Islands, where she comfortably beat England's Cassie Jackman 9-1 9-0 9-6. This was her second title.

      Immediately after the women's World Open in Guernsey was the women's team championship. This was a contest between Australia and England, which were at the top of the world rankings. The final was one-sided in favour of the visiting team, Australia winning 3-0 to retain the crown gained in 1992 in Vancouver, B.C.

      The other world title contested in 1994 was the men's junior. The favourite, Ahmad Barada of Egypt, triumphed 9-0, 7-9, 3-9, 9-3, 9-2 over fellow Egyptian Omar al-Borolosy and, not surprisingly, Egypt took the team title.

      A notable new talent in 1994 was 21-year-old Peter Nicol from Scotland. In 12 months he rose from 44th in the world rankings to 5th. Spectacularly, he beat Khan in the second round of the Welsh Classic. Also rising during the year was Martin's brother Brett, who at the age of 31 rose to number two in the world rankings. His play was marked by a high level of consistency combined with hugely deceptive qualities. Meanwhile, the third of the Martin clan, Rodney (men's world champion in 1991), was sidelined for much of the year with a hip condition. He returned in the autumn, however, and climbed back to seventh in the world rankings. (ANDREW SHELLEY)

▪ 1994

      In October 1992 Susan Devoy released her stranglehold on women's squash championships when she announced her retirement immediately after winning her fourth world title. The scramble for supremacy in 1993 then began. The winner was Michelle Martin from Brisbane, Australia. She won the British Open in April, defeating Suzanne Horner (England) 9-7, 9-0, 9-4 in the final. She then crossed the world to Japan, where she took the inaugural JSM SuperSquash title, and then emphasized her preeminence in the World Open at Johannesburg, South Africa, in September, beating fellow Australian Liz Irving 9-2, 9-2, 9-1 in the final.

      In men's competition Jansher Khan of Pakistan won his second British Open 9-6, 9-5, 6-9, 9-2 over Chris Dittmar of Australia and his fifth World Open. The latter, staged in Karachi, Pak., in November, was notable for the amazing third comeback from retirement of Jahangir Khan of Pakistan. After more than nine months away from competition, he reached the final; in that match he lost to Jansher Khan 14-15, 15-9, 15-5, 15-6. It was Jahangir Khan's ninth World Open final, of which he won six. In the world team championships, which followed the individual matches, Jahangir helped Pakistan to a 3-0 win over an injury-ridden Australia to regain the title that country last held in 1987.

      (ANDREW SHELLEY)

* * *

game
Introduction
also called  squash,  rackets also spelled  racquets  

      singles or doubles game played in a four-walled court with a long-handled strung racket and a small rubber ball. The game is played on exactly the same principle as rackets but in a smaller court. Squash is usually played by two people, but it can be played by four (doubles).

      Two different varieties of game are played: softball (the so-called “British,” or “international,” version) and hardball (the “American” version). In softball, which is the standard game internationally, the game is played with a softer, slower ball on the kind of wide, tall court shown in the accompanying diagram. The ball stays in play far longer, and there is more court to cover, making it a physically demanding game that requires fitness, patience, and deliberation. Hardball squash, which is popular in the United States, is played on a narrower court with a harder, faster ball. The hardball game emphasizes quick reactions and creative shot making.

History
      Squash rackets is a descendant of rackets, having probably originated around the middle of the 19th century at Harrow School in England. Students there who were unable to get into the rackets court took their exercise hitting an India-rubber ball, which squashed when hit against a wall. The new game soon became popular in other English boarding schools. In the 1890s private courts were built, and, after the turn of the century, club courts appeared at Bath, Queen's, and the Marylebone Cricket Club.

      Not until after World War I did squash rackets catch on, and in the 1920s the game spread rapidly, becoming more popular than its parent game, rackets. Many courts were built in clubs, schools, and colleges. Rules were formulated; the English national association was organized; and dimensions of the court were established, along with regulations in regard to the ball and racket. Many competitions began: the Professional Championship in 1920, the Amateur Championship for men and women in 1922, and the Open Championship in 1930. International competition with the United States began with the sending of a British team to the United States in 1924, though such competition was later hampered by differences in British and American courts, balls, and methods of scoring.

      In the United States the game played in the early years was actually squash tennis, using a lawn tennis ball and tennis racket. Squash tennis has been supplanted by squash rackets in most American cities but continues to have a following.

      From England the game spread throughout the British Empire—to Canada, India, Australia, and South Africa. Today squash is played throughout the world. The World Squash Federation (WSF) promotes the game and coordinates tours and championships between nations. The WSF membership has grown to over 115 nations, each of which also belongs to one of five regional squash federations.

      Outstanding squash players have included F.D. Amr Bey, an Egyptian amateur who won several British open titles in the 1930s; the Khans of Pakistan, a family of professional players and teachers who often dominated open play from the 1950s to the 1990s; Janet Morgan, British women's champion from 1949–50 to 1958–59 and the winner of American and Australian titles; and Heather McKay (née Blundell), the Australian who won the British women's championship from 1961–62 to 1976–77, as well as other championships.

The game
      The international version of squash is played on an enclosed rectangular court that is 9.75 m (32 ft) long and about 6.4 m (21 ft) wide. The main features of the court are, on the front wall, a service line above which a ball must bounce on a serve. Below this service line on the front wall is a board or metal liner, which extends to a height of 48 cm (18.9 in) from the floor and which, if hit by a ball, results in a lost play or point for the striker. Another line delimits the height of play along the front and side walls. The “short line” on the floor marks the point beyond which a served ball must bounce on the floor, and the rear area enclosed by this line is divided into two smaller rectangles that function as service boxes, within one of which the server must stand while serving and within the other of which the ball that he has served must bounce on the floor.

      The object of the game is to bounce, or rebound, the ball off the front wall in such a way that the opponent is unable to reach it and rebound it off the front wall in his turn. In serving and at any other time, the ball may be bounced directly off the front wall or it may be rebounded off the side or rear walls before or after it hits the front wall. A ball may be returned before it has bounced once on the floor (after rebounding off the front wall), but, after it has bounced on the floor more than once, the ball is dead. A player must give his opponent a fair chance at reaching the ball, which often means getting out of the other's way after having made one's shot. Under British rules, a point is scored only if the winner of a rally (exchange, or succession, of shots) was the one who served the ball; if he was not, the winner of the rally becomes the server, and if he wins consecutive rallies he serves consecutively. In American play, a point is scored by the winner of a rally irrespective of who served. A game can consist of 9 or 15 points, with a tie at the 8-, 13-, or 14-point mark being decided by a tie-breaking system of play. The small, highly responsive squash ball is propelled at high speeds both to and from the front wall, and the pace of play is accordingly swift. The players try to put one another out of reach of a shot by skilled placement and by varying the speed of their shots. The game demands good eye-hand coordination and, above all, quick reflexes.

      The squash racket itself is similar to that used in the game of rackets, but the handle is shorter; the American racket is heavier than the British. The ball is made of rubber or of a rubber and butyl composition.

      The standard British court has four walls, usually of wood. The dimensions and markings of the British court are shown in the accompanying diagram. The board, or telltale, is a strip of sheet metal or other resonant material that produces a clearly different sound when the part of the front wall “out-of-play” is hit. The standard court for the American version is considerably narrower than the English court, being 5.6 m (18.5 ft) wide, and some other dimensions are also slightly different. Doubles courts are 7.6 m (25 ft).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • squash rackets — Squash Squash, n. 1. Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of pease. [1913 Webster] Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a squash is before t is a peascod. Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. Hence, something… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • squash (rackets) — Singles or doubles game played in a four walled court with a long handled racket and a rubber ball. A descendant of rackets, it probably originated in the mid 19th century at England s Harrow School. The standard international game uses a… …   Universalium

  • squash rackets — noun a game played in an enclosed court by two or four players who strike the ball with long handled rackets • Syn: ↑squash, ↑squash racquets • Members of this Topic: ↑cut, ↑undercut, ↑drive, ↑forehand, ↑fore …   Useful english dictionary

  • squash rackets — noun (U) squash2 (1) …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • Massachusetts Seniors Squash Rackets Association — The Massachusetts Seniors Squash Rackets Association was founded in 1987 as an squash league. The MSSRA is a league for male squash players over the age of fifty five. It is generally regarded as the top level of squash competition for senior… …   Wikipedia

  • Rackets (sport) — Rackets (British English) or Racquets (American English) is an indoor racquet sport played in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada. The sport is infrequently called hard rackets, possibly to distinguish it from the related sport of… …   Wikipedia

  • Squash — 〈[ skwɔ̣ʃ] n.; od. s; unz.; Sp.〉 Rückschlagspiel zwischen zwei Spielern auf einer ,40 x 9,75 m großen, von vier Wänden begrenzten Fläche [engl., „pressen“ <vulgärlat. exquassare; <lat. ex „aus, heraus“ + quassare „schleudern“] * * * Squash… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • squash — [ skwaʃ ] n. m. • 1930; mot angl. ♦ Anglic. Sport dans lequel deux joueurs côte à côte se renvoient, à l aide de raquettes, une balle de caoutchouc qui rebondit sur les murs d un court fermé. Jouer au squash. Faire du squash. ● squash, squashs… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Squash — Squash, n. 1. Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of pease. [1913 Webster] Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a squash is before t is a peascod. Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. Hence, something unripe or …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • squash — s.m.inv. ES ingl. {{wmetafile0}} TS sport gioco simile al tennis, praticato in un campo chiuso da pareti ai quattro lati, in cui due giocatori o due coppie di giocatori devono colpire a turno la palla con una speciale racchetta, facendola… …   Dizionario italiano

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”