THAT DEREK RAE was unhappy when he discovered three weeks ago that he had been drawn against world number one, Jansher Khan, in the first round of the British Open Championship for the second year in succession, goes without saying. He faces that test today with more confidence, however.
Ryan has struggled to fulfil his promise on the professional circuit over the past couple of years and, having slipped down to 17 on the world ladder, another meeting with the man who has won the sport's most prestigious event for each of the past five years can hardly have seemed like an ideal opportunity to earn some precious ranking points.
Since the draw was made, however, the Dubliner has beaten the world champion in an English league match and, given the fact that Khan was also severely tested 12 months ago by the Irishman, it seems safe to assume that, as the sport's leading player arrived in Cardiff yesterday, he will not have been too thrilled about his first round prospects either.
When the pair met last year Ryan surprised many observers by pushing Khan so hard in a tightly contested four game match which the seven times world champion eventually took 16-17, 15-13, 15-13, 15-11. Reflecting on that match now, though, the Irishman concedes that, having come close to victory, he lost his head a little and allowed the more experienced Khan to slip through his grasp.
"I was a game up and the next two were close all the way to 13 all but then I just did a couple of really stupid things and let him off the hook. Up until then I had been very disciplined and made it very hard for him but in the end I thought that I let myself down a little."
He made amends for the error on St Patrick's Day when, in the final round of this year's Superleague, he battled back from 6-8 down in the first to win 10-8, 6-9, 9-3, 9-3 and inflict what was only the 14th competitive defeat of Khan in a decade.
"It was a huge win for me because I was determined going into the match to do well and I was very conscious of the fact that I was going to be playing him here at the British.
"On the night he wasn't playing his best squash but he is still the best in the world and the players who were watching the match all felt that he would have won a lot of matches the way he was playing, so naturally I was very happy."
That victory, however, would pale into insignificance if he were to eliminate the Pakistani from this event in today's first round. In addition to the points earned for making the second round and the possibility of going considerably further (he would be likely to play English born Greek international Paul Gregory for a place in the last eight), Ryan would benefit from an enormously enhanced reputation within the game.
"It would be a marvellous boost all right and I'm very positive about my chances of pulling it off. The reason I'm up against him is because I didn't play well for a couple of weeks back before Christmas when I went out early in Qatar and Egypt and dropped out of the top 16 but I've been a lot happier with my form lately.
"He'll still be the favourite but that means that he has all of the pressure that comes with that whereas I have absolutely none on me whatsoever. I'm sure he'll try to change a few things from the match a couple of weeks ago and he should be more motivated but if I can stick to my own game plan through to the end, then I'm in with every chance."
