May 11, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 5, 1429

LIVERPOOL, May 10: World champion Amr Shabana launched a scathing attack on the venue for the British Open after reaching the quarter-finals of the famous tournament here.

Shabana is displeased with the atmosphere and facilities of the Liverpool cricket club where the event, which was once the unofficial world championship, is being played for the first two days.

“It just doesn’t feel like a British Open here,” the Egyptian said, pronouncing himself relieved to be moving to a different, more modern venue for the last three days of the tournament.

“It will help me of course when we move,” Shabana continued. “You expect to play in a top class place, and with respect to this, it’s a top local club.

“I think the British Open should not be held here, for sure. I don’t think it’s good for the game.

“For promoting the tournament it should be held in the highest facility and I know that England has much higher facilities than this — with respect to the club.

“It’s unfair to all the players to play here. The whole tournament should be somewhere else.”

That will happen on Saturday when it goes to the impressively modern Echo arena in Liverpool’s revamped dockside — so modern that Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain does not perform the opening ceremony till next week.

The club is more than 200 years old, and its website boasts that famous former cricketers like Wasim Akram and Dr W.G. Grace were impressed with the facilities.—AFP