Doha resident Weir aims big

South Africa’s Adel Weir the only WISPA player to make Middle East her base camp — aims to break into the world top-10 in the next two or three years.

Weir, who celebrates her 25th birthday on October 30, lives and trains in Doha where she will play the qualifying matches to sneak into the main draw of the 2008 Qatar Classic squash tournament beginning next Monday.

Currently ranked number 73 in the world, Adel yesterday said her main ambition as a professional player is to be one of the best on the women’s tour.

“My immediate goal is to break into the top-50. I know I have the game to do it and I will. However, I strongly feel that I need to improve the mental side of my game. I have to have faith in my ability,” the South African blonde added.

“Once I do that, my next target would be the top-30 and then the top-10. I will try to get into the main draw of the Qatar Classic next week. In December, I have plans to play three events. Right now, my chief concern is to have as many matches as possible.

“The more matches you play, the more confident you become. I am very pleased that I will be able to do that since I have Ramada Plaza Doha, which will sponsor my flights to anywhere in the world. I will travel to Holland, Wales and Monte Carlo in December. With Ramada Plaza’s valuable help, I can now focus on my game and not worry about travel issues,” the South African said.

The right-handed South African said she admires world number one Nicol David of Malaysia for humility off the court and her brilliance with a racket on it.

“I think she is an amazing player. She is the fittest and fastest player around. She is such a humble human being. Ramy Ashour (of Egypt) is another player I admire a lot. He too is a very simple guy but has great talent,” Adel said.

Adel said she favours the new scoring system introduced on the women’s tour recently.

“I think with the new system, (as a player) you are always in the game. You always think you can fight back if you are behind your rival. I am comfortable with the new scoring system (in which the points can be won on rival’s serve as well),” Adel said.

Adel will be playing her first match on Saturday when the qualifying stages of the 2008 Qatar Classic commence at the Khalifa Squash Complex.

“I have been training hard so let’s see what happens,” she said.