Triumphant Parke in happy return

Simon Parke marked his comeback after cancer surgery with a win in the first round of the Al Ahram International tournament in Cairo yesterday.

Parke underwent an operation for testicular cancer in January two months after leading England to their first-ever victory in the World Team Championship at the same venue. The 23-year-old world No 5 returned to competitive action with a 15-10, 15-13, 15-12 success against Egypt's junior champion, Karim El Mistikawi.

"It was a bit close, a bit harder than I expected. Perhaps it was nervous energy that I was lacking," he said. Today, he faces tougher opposition and conditions, when the tournament moves from the air-conditioned national squash stadium to an open-air court among the pyramids of Giza, where he plays the Irish champion, Derek Ryan, who beat the England No 6, Paul Johnson, 15-13, 5-15, 15-11, 7-15, 15-10.

Jansher Khan started his campaign without dropping a game against Colchester's Tony Hands, while the England captain, Chris Walker, scored an emphatic 15-8, 17-15, 15-9 win over the Welsh champion David Evans. Two qualifiers, Rodney Dubach of South Africa and Amr Shabana of Egypt, went down in straight games to Oxford's Mark Cairns and Nottingham's Jason Nicolle.