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 Whether to play in the Bank Al-Falah Pakistan Open was a tough decision for World No. 1 Peter Nicol. He was fresh off a minor injury to his leg, which happened in January's Tournament of Champions. Nicol was fairly certain his leg would not trouble him in Pakistan, but there was also another concern: the political state of the host country. The tournament, held March 18-27 in Lahore, took place mere days after an Islamabad church was bombed, killing five people and injuring more than 40, and much more unrest plagued the region-then and still today.
Squash Magazine: Let's talk about Pakistan briefly. I know that you did rest and try and do some work on that injury after the [British] nationals, which didn't give you a lot of time for recovery. So I suppose at the end of the day you must have been quite happy just to get to the final in Pakistan.
Peter Nicol: In the end, I was delighted with what I managed to do. Obviously I was very disappointed to lose in 14 in the fourth. To be so close to me winning it, that you think 'Could I have, should I have?' But, at the same time, [I was] nearly out in the quarterfinals, physically not in good shape, movement was free and flowing but I wasn't able to push off the court because of the leg injury. I'd only done three or four days training prior to Pakistan and then I was flying out there. I had three weeks completely off. So yeah, delighted just to get in the final and play so well in the final. And I thought, well that's as hard as it's going to be: me having not played. I can't wait to get a bit of training in me and then get back on and play these guys!
I've got to say, the Pakistan Open was one of the best tournaments I've ever played in, in 10 years. The organization, the structure of the tournament was superb, absolutely superb.
And also, the political scene there as well was one of the reasons people were obviously very wary of going there. And we had bodyguards with us at all times. Bodyguards on the floor, patrolling the floor we were on. We were all kept in one area. We weren't allowed to leave the hotel. But to be honest I think it would have been practically safe to do that.
(To read the complete interview with Peter Nicol, please see Squash Magazine from June/July 2002.)
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