Doha: World number two player Gregory Gaultier (pictured), a four-time World Championship runner-up, said he was preparing harder than ever to end his PSA World Championship hoodoo ahead of the 2014 event, which gets underway here on Friday.
The Frenchman, who held the world number one ranking for eight months in 2014, lost an agonising final against Nick Matthew in England last year and he’s hoping that a change in approach to the competition will pay dividend when the world’s top players converge in the heat of the Middle East.
“I am really looking forward to the tournament,” said Gaultier.
“My training has been going well recently and I am trying to peak for the event,” he said.
“I chose to play less tournaments during the last few months compared to how many I played at the same time last year and that was all so that I can go into the World Championship as fresh as possible.
“I have a lost a few world Championship finals in the past but that gives me extra motivation to try and get that trophy in my hands because winning the Worlds would be a dream come true.”
Gaultier lost his world number one ranking to Egyptian Mohamed Elshorbagy, who won the 2013 Qatar Classic in Doha, in the November rankings but despite losing to the Bristol-based 23-year-old in consecutive PSA World Series tournaments, in Hong Kong and Philadelphia, Gaultier says his focus is not on the younger man.
“Mohamed is in good form and he is, maybe, the man to beat but there are other players who will be going there who will be very dangerous,” he said.
“There will be a lot of players who have prepared specifically for that event and while the crowd might favour and encourage the Egyptians more than the other players in Doha, I remember when I won there a few years ago the public were on my side as well so I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
THE PENINSULA
