World No 26 Richard Vaughan was forced to withdraw in the semi final of the Toulouse Challenger against 5/8* Petr Koukal from the Czech Rep after 72 minutes. Koukal stormed off to an 11-2 lead in the first before being dragged back by Vaughan to 17-16, but a few quick points closed the set for Koukal 21-16.

The 2nd set was a very hard fought affair with Vaughan coming out on top 21-18 after 40 minutes.
The third set started well with players equal at 4-4 before Koukal opened up an 11-5 lead, from which point Vaughan’s speed noticeably dropped leading to him withdrawing injured at 6-16.

Vaughan said “It was a tough match and Koukal was playing very well. I strained a muscle in my leg in the first round and have been dealing with it match by match; the concrete floor has made this an impossible task. The leg was too tight to start and I was slow moving, my leg then seemed to warm up in the second, before straining more in the start of the third and I could hardly move by the end.

It’s ludicrous to play a tournament of this calibre with 6 rounds in 3 days on concrete. The Danish players Persson and Ulsing both struggled on the hard floor as well, it was always a difficult decision to play or not, I just hope I recover in time for the Sudirman cup in 10 days time. On the positive side my ranking will improve further and I have had 9 rounds in two tournaments which will only improve my matchplay, which will only benefit preparation for the China Super Series next month which was the purpose of these two tournaments.

The most confusing part of the match was having a GB coach Ray Stevens coach a Czech player against me. Being British I don’t quite understand that and its not the first time this has happened. One way or the other the money is coming from the UK sport for all players and coaches so how can one of our own coaches coach against me? but to be honest nothing surprises me anymore.”

In the earlier rounds saw Vaughan overcome Wigardt (Sweden), Kusuma (Indonesia), Vondra (Czech), Ulsing (Denmark) all in straight sets.

“I had great local support in Toulouse once again, thanks to the French crowd and travelling UK umpires, it’s a pity I could not have gone one better than my previous result and win the title”.

Vaughan’s ranking should not go up to 24 or 25 in the World, inching closer to his Top 20 goal. Next up is the World Team Championships in Glasgow where Wales play in a tough Group 4 versus Australia, Spain and Italy.

Copyright © 2007 www.richardvaughan.net