Drew’s boys look relaxed ahead of showdown with top seeds
By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad International Correspondent
After straightforward victories in today’s semi-finals of the WSF Men’s World Junior Team Squash Championship in India, top seeds Egypt and third seeds England will contest Sunday’s final at the Express Avenue Mall in Chennai for the fifth time since 1994 – England marking their first appearance in the final since 2002 and Egypt celebrating their eighth in a row.
Egypt, boasting both finalists from last week’s world individual championship, brushed aside first-time semi-finalists Czech Republic, the sixth seeds – claiming victory after just 54 minutes of playing time.
It was left to newly-crowned World Junior Champion Mostafa Asal (pictured above in semi-final action) to clinch their appearance in the final after beating Czech number two Ondrej Vorlicek 11-8, 11-9, 11-2.
“We’re very pleased to be in the final,” said Egyptian coach Ahmed Matany. “The players are very disciplined and are working hard.
“I’m very proud of this generation, they all have the talent and the potential to become the next generation of senior champions, but for now we have to concentrate on winning this title. It would be our first back-to-back treble so it’s very important to keep our focus on the coming final.”
Four-time champions England also continued their impressive progress as they made quick work of a USA team that recovered from the brink of defeat yesterday to beat second seeds Canada. There was to be no recovery this time, as Englishmen Nick Wall and James Wyatt (pictured above in semi-final action against USA’s Thomas Rosini) both won in comfortable style – ensuring the nation’s first final since 2002, also in Chennai.
“I’m happy with how everyone played, again,” said England coach Lee Drew. “They played well tonight and the team spirit has been brilliant throughout. So many teams are so close, we’ve talked about how important it is to do the right thing on the day and to keep concentrating throughout the entire match, and we’ve managed to do that very well every match so far.
“Everyone is very relaxed. They are a great bunch of players to work with and they deserve the chance to give it a real go against Egypt tomorrow.”
In the 9/12 place playoff semi-finals, New Zealand won another dramatic tie to beat hosts India, while Canada recovered from yesterday’s disappointment to see off title-holders Pakistan in the 5/8 place play-offs.
WSF World Junior Team Squash Championship, Chennai, India.
Semi-finals:
[1] EGYPT bt [6] CZECH REPUBLIC 3/0
Marwan Tarek bt Viktor Byrtus 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 (29m)
Mostafa Asal bt Ondrej Vorlicek 11-8, 11-9, 11-2 (25m)
Omar El Torkey bt Marek Panacek 11-3, 11-7 (21m)
[3] ENGLAND bt [8] USA 3/0
Nick Wall bt Daelum Mawji 11-5, 11-8, 11-5 (23m)
James Wyatt bt Thomas Rosini 11-4, 11-8, 11-7 (35m)
Sam Todd bt Ayush Menon 5-11, 11-3, 11-2 (26m)
5th – 8th place play-offs:
[4] MALAYSIA bt [9] HONG KONG CHINA 2/0
Darren Rahul Pragasam bt Chung Yat Long 11-13, 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 (35m)
Siow Yee Xian bt Ho Ka Hei 11-8, 11-1, 11-8 (34m)
[2] CANADA bt [11] PAKISTAN 2/1
James Flynn lost to Abbas Zeb 11-9, 12-14, 12-14, 5-11 (51m)
George Crowne bt Muhammad Uzair 5-11, 11-2, 11-3, 11-9 (41m)
Ryan Picken bt Haris Qasim 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 4-11, 12-10 (54m)
9th – 12th place play-offs:
[12] SWITZERLAND bt [15] ARGENTINA 2/1
Yannick Wilhelmi lost to Miguel Gonzalo Pujol 7-11, 5-11, 6-11 (28m)
Nils Roesch bt Jeremías Azaña 13-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9 (49m)
Campbell Wells bt Dylan Tymkiw 12-5, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6 (50m)
[10] NEW ZEALAND bt [5] INDIA 2/1
Matthew Lucente lost to Veer Chotrani 12-14, 11-4, 5-11, 6-11 (44m)
Gabe Yam bt Utkarsh Baheti 11-9, 11-8, 13-11 (35m)
Temwa Chileshe bt Rahul Baitha 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12 (58m)
13th – 16th place play-offs:
[7] COLOMBIA bt [14] IRELAND 2/1
Matias Knudsen bt Conor Moran 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 (32m)
Andres Villamizar lost to Scott Gillanders 11-8, 5-11, 9-11, 6-11 (36m)
Nicolas Serna bt Gavin L’Estrange 13-15, 5-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-2 (62m)
[16] AUSTRALIA bt [18] GERMANY 2/1
Nicholas Calvert bt Nils Schwab 15-13, 11-5, 11-7 (39m)
Jacob Ford lost to Maximillian Baum 7-11, 6-11, 8-11 (33m)
Maaz Khatri bt Simon Tietz 11-3, 11-1, 11-13, 11-9 (42m)
17th – 20th place play-offs:
[13] FRANCE bt [20] SINGAPORE 3/0
Toufik Mekhalfi bt Aaron Liang 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 11-5 (49m)
Adrien Douillard bt Kieren Tan 9-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-4 (34m)
Manuel Paquemar bt Leonard Lee 11-6, 8-11, 11-6 (23m)
[17] SCOTLAND bt [19] SOUTH AFRICA 2/1
Alasdair Prott bt Mikael Ismail 11-3, 6-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6 (55m)
Christopher Murphy bt Murray Schepers 11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9 (49m)
John Meehan lost to Tristen Worth 2-11, 6-11 (13m)
21st – 24th place play-offs:
[21] FINLAND bt [24] ZIMBABWE 3/0
Elias Korhonen bt Tayne Turnock 11-4, 8-11, 16-14, 12-10 (42m)
Atte Stengård bt Ethan Alfalfa Porter 13-11, 12-10, 11-2 (40m)
Ville Koskinen bt Harry Lawton 11-6, 8-11, 11-9 (27m)
[22] QATAR bt [23] SAUDI ARABIA 2/1
Hamad Al-Amri bt Mohammad Almwled 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 (30m)
Ibrahim Darwish lost to Abdulmajeed Boureggah 8-11, 3-11, 7-11 (26m)
Ahmad Al-Muraikhi bt Abdulelah Boureggah 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 (13m)
Final line-up:
[1] EGYPT v [3] ENGLAND
5th place play-off:
[4] MALAYSIA v [2] CANADA
7th place play-off:
[9] HONG KONG CHINA v [11] PAKISTAN
9th place play-off:
[12] SWITZERLAND v [10] NEW ZEALAND
11th place play-off:
[5] INDIA v [15] ARGENTINA
13th place play-off:
[7] COLOMBIA v [16] AUSTRALIA
15th place play-off:
[14] IRELAND v [18] GERMANY
17th place play-off:
[13] FRANCE v [17] SCOTLAND
19th place play-off:
[20] SINGAPORE v [19] SOUTH AFRICA
21st place play-off:
[21] FINLAND v [22] QATAR
23rd place play-off:
[23] SAUDI ARABIA v [24] ZIMBABWE
Follow the live action via the official website www.wsfworldjuniors.com
Images courtesy of #wsfworldjuniors