Liverpool Cricket Club Open D1: El Torkey Wins Thriller as Pragasam Continues Fine Form

Kareem El Torkey fought back from 2-1 down to beat Sam Buckley at the Liverpool Cricket Club Open, in the only match of day one to go to more than three games. 

The young Egyptian has been in good form of late, winning two of his previous four events and reaching the final of another, but was pushed hard by the Irish No.1, despite sitting 45 places higher in the rankings. 

Indeed, it was Buckley who took the opening game, clinching it 11-9 on a somewhat controversial no let after a deep backhand drive down the line. 

The 19-year-old Egyptian – who plays his squash at Cairo’s famous Wadi Degla club – hit back by taking game two 11-7, but was soon playing catchup once more, losing the third 11-5 to leave Buckley one game from victory. 

Once again, though, El Torkey dug deep, winning game four 11-8 to force a decider, in which he appeared to be heading for victory at 5-2 up. 

A 5-2 lead soon turned into a 9-8 deficit, but El Torkey remained calm, levelling once more on a stroke decision that ended a 23-shot rally. 

Both players hit the floor in the exchanges that followed, first El Torkey after an accidental trip that was ruled a yes let, and then Buckley, who put in a desperate dive. 

The dive was successful in keeping the point alive, but it would ultimately go El Torkey’s way, bringing up match ball which he took when a stretching Buckley forehand hit the tin. 

That result continued the run of wins for the [9/16] seeds on day one, a run which was only ended in the day’s final match, as Darren Pragasam produced a dominant display to down lefty James Peach. 

Peach is ranked 23 places above Pragasam in the world, but the Malaysian has been enjoying some of his best squash in recent weeks, and carried that form into this matchup. 

He attacked the front court throughout with a heavy combination of drops and boasts, winning 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 in 28 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Moustafa Elsirty and Alasdair Prott were among the other winners, both taking less than 25 minutes to see off Leo Chung and Ka Hei Ho respectively. 

Action continues at the Liverpool Cricket Club Open tomorrow, with round two kicking off at 5:30pm GMT. Court 5 will once again stream live on the SQUASHTV Live Streaming YouTube channel. 

Results: 
Kareem El Torkey (EGY) bt Sam Buckley (IRL) 3-2: 9-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9 (70m) 
Darren Pragasam (MAS) bt James Peach (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 (28m) 
Alasdair Prott (SCO) bt Ka Hei Ho (HKG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 (19m) 
Moustafa Elsirty (EGY) bt Leo Chung (HKG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-5, 11-7 (22m) 
Ivan Perez (ESP) bt Aaron Allpress (IRL) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-1 (30m) 
Dewald van Niekerk (RSA) bt [WC] Lewis Harding (ENG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 (23m) 
Lwamba Chileshe (NZL) bt [WC] Cory Harding (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 (29m) 
Ameeshenraj Chandaran (MAS) bt William Donnelly (NZL) 3-0: 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 (25m)