Squash Pragassen, Alphonse triumph in UCPS tournament |05 December 2017

Number one players, namely Klaus Pragassen and Eva Alphonse triumphed in the UCPS-sponsored Multi-chance tournament which ended on Friday evening at the squash court at Mont Fleuri.

Eighteen male players registered for this end-of-season tournament though the two notable absentees were number two player Rod Thorington and the current chairman Ridvan Prosper ‒ both of whom are the main challengers to Pragassen’s dominance of this sport for the last two seasons.

Therefore, Pragassen cruised to the final with straight set victories over Franc Dupont and Marcus Adela in the semifinal to set up a final meeting with 67-year-old Emmanuel Labiche who was making his first appearance in a grand final.

Labiche had defeated Gregory Albert and in the semi-final, he had surprised Rene Durup to book his final place against the overwhelming favourite Pragassen who was aiming to retain his title.

Labiche though gave a good account of himself in the first set where he matched Pragassen but eventually lost on a credible score of 12-10.

Pragassen then turned on the heat to brush aside the challenge of Labiche as he won the next two sets at a canter 11-7 and 11-5 to lift the UCPS trophy in a season where he has won all the individual tournaments but only lost in the H. Savy Insurance team tournament and he was reasonably pleased with his performance this season.

“My opponent did well in his first final though I did not apply myself to the maximum as I knew I was in control of the match against a totally different opponent who I normally face in the final. In the end, the tournament went quite well for me in a good season where I have managed to retain all my titles,” Pragassen related to Sports NATION.

As for Labiche, he was generally satisfied with the way the week had elapsed for him where he had reached his first ever final and was full of praise for his much younger opponent.

“I am pleased with my performance and to have reached the final against a much better player both physically and technically but I tried my best to give him a good match,” Labiche told Sports NATION.

In the women’s final, Eva Alphonse faced Natalie Houareau in a competition which had seen only six players.

Alphonse had to battle hard to claim the first set 19-12 but Houareau soon equalised by winning the second set 11-6 but then lost her way in the third where she lost 3-11.

Houareau soared to an 8-0 lead in the fourth set but Alphonse got her acts together to level the score at 8-8 before wrapping up this set 11-8 and the match to win the women’s singles title.

“I found it difficult to adjust to my opponent’s style of play at the start as I play very hard but I managed to read her game to win so I am quite happy to end the season on a good note,” Alphonse explained after the match.

As for Houareau, she was just happy to have reached the final in a match which she said she enjoyed.

“The final was a good match and I even managed to win a set against my opponent and for me it was an honour to play Eva in this final,” Houareau said.

There were also two third place matches where Marcus Adela held off the challenge of Rene Durup to win in five sets with set scores of 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9 and 11-5.

In the women’s third place match up, Trisha Quatre edged Aurore Arcambal in another five-set match on a score of 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 9-11 and 11-8.

The managing director of UCPS Gregory Albert thanked all the players and National Sports Council chief executive Giovanna Rousseau also had words of gratitude to them before the prizes were distributed to the winners of this final tournament for 2017.

R. J-L.