Early Rounds Report by Mark Stevens

So what is going on in the real world of Golf Croquet here at the Egyptian Open?

It is not as it seems. Ben Rothman failed to get through his Block (first 3 in each Block) but gets a second chance (clever 4th, 5th, 6th knock out of 24 players to produce 8 additional qualifiers). Reg scraped through with only one loss BUT three of his games were desperate affairs all going to 9 all and a last hoop win.

On the Egyptian side, matters are different. It is being said (by them) that only 5 can possibly win .. and sort of in order: AHMED ELMAHDY (ex World Champ who has suddenly got better) MOHAMED TAHA (won last year and definitely consolidating his form) MOHAMED KAREM (has all the shots but tends to fail in finals) YUSUF YASSER and new on the block (2nd son of Yasser Esmat, increasingly reliable but maybe a lot to learn to come through critical stages) AHMED NASR (slimmed down by 3 stone, still has every shot and more in the book, plays lightning fast but slightly inconsistent .. He does need to win to finance his trip to the World's as he was not selected by Egypt ?? = $$$ = a focused Ahmed.

There are a host of other 2nd rankers who have moments of brilliance but haven't managed the "break-through" yet such as Mostafa Nezar (ex 21 champ) with his contorted but now much improved grip .. and who knows about the (now) older timers such as Mohamed Nasr and Hammy Erian (maybe not just as good as they were and you need to at your best for every match to win this tournament) As for Reg.. that is what he is up against and needs to get back to his best (and so far "not yet") but Reg is Reg. Just to finish,

I know you will want to know what happened to me. Well the scores are the worst ever but maybe I will win the Plate (it happened before! But I did play MOHAMED TAHA in my last game and here is a description which will tell you why he is now my Tournament favourite. HOOP 1 .. he jumped my blue ball (nicely in the jaws) from 3/4 of the way back to the South boundary.: jumped clean and this also ran hoop 2. HOOP 2 .. already won HOOP 3 .. as my blue ball was still in the middle of hoop 1 and my other ball more or less in corner 1, there was no conceivable way for me to approach hoop 3. He takes position and wins immediately after I miss a 25 yarder with my miserable blue ball. HOOP 4 ., he jumps my well placed blocking Black from 10 yards. HOOP 5 .. I win .. Hurrah

Now It Gets Worse HOOP 6 .. nice approach with my black ball to within 2 feet and blocking .. he jumps me from 10 yards with his yellow and, just to remind you, that is his third (tricky as the hoops are quite tight) jump although this time not very well to just 4 feet the other side of hoop 6. I take position nicely in front of hoop 7 with my blue and safe from His red ball obscured by the peg from hoop 7. So he quite simply uses the red to promoet his yellow to the North boundary .. and immediately takes on the steep angle at hoop 7 (which he gets) to go 6: 1 up.

I have no idea what happened after that and I even won a hoop or two. Remember these are 19 point games so the whole thing took at least as long as 15 minutes. So there you are .. up to date. I can't imagine him not getting to the final and hopefully a revived Reg will be there also to make it more exciting ..

Mark Stevens