Dear Supporters!
I am out of the Norweigian International here in Oslo. I had quite a good week here despite losing in the quarter-final this morning. In my first round, I gained some amount of revenge, beating Christian Boesiger, the top Swiss player who beat me at the Canadian Open in 2006. I played a solid game and didn't give him any opportunities to get into a rhythm. My second round was against a strong, young Dane, Kasper Ipsen. He is not as technically gifted as some of the other Danish players I've met, but he is very fit and plays a game similar to my own. Fortunately for me, he had an absolute battle the round before, earlier that day, so he didn't have any kind of extra reserves. I was feeling very fresh and strong, and after a close start in both games, I was able to pull away and dominate him 21-12, 21-12.
Today's quarter-final match was against Rajiv Ousef of England. He's a very talented player, extremely tall and has a good feeling for the game. I didn't play as well as the day before, but I think I adjusted well to the game and kept with him as much as I could. I got a bit behind at the end of the first game which he won 21-17, and in the second, I stayed with him, but still lost 22-20.
As usual, there are still lots of things in my performance to work on, both technically and tactically. I have three days until the start of the Scottish International, in Glasgow, to get rested and mentally re-focused for that event. It will be another tough tournament, especially with it having a 64 player draw, whereas this was only a 32 draw, but I think this will be to my benefit. The more matches my opponents have to play, the better! I've got Scotland's number one player first round, so I will have to be ready to face a big supporting crowd! Let's see how it goes.
You can follow the results at www.tournamentsoftware.com, under the 2007 Scottish International Championships
ANDREW ROBERT DABEKA (c) 613.222.3302 www.AndrewDabeka.ca
Previous emails:Nov 1, Oct 24, Oct 9, Sept 29, Sept 8, Sept 1, Aug 14, Jult 31 and July 10, 2007
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