England Squash Honours World Champions in Manchester

Meeting for the first time in the country since winning the Men's World Team Championship title in Pakistan in December, members of the four-man England team were honoured by England Squash in a special presentation ceremony at the National Squash Centre in Manchester during this week's British National Championships.

Nick Rider, Chief Executive of England Squash, presented James Willstrop, Lee Beachill, Nick Matthew and captain Peter Nicol honorary life-time memberships of the association as well as special framed photographs of the victorious squad in Islamabad.

It was more than four year after 'defecting' from Scotland to join take advantage of England's Lottery-funded World Class Performance Programme that Peter Nicol rewarded his country in the strongest possible way by clinching victory for England over Egypt in December's final - bringing the trophy back to England for the first time since 1997.

It was 22-year-old James Willstrop who set up England's victory on the all-glass court in Islamabad. The new world number two, who was leading the England squad for the first time, fought back from a game down to claim a sensational 3/1 win over world champion Amr Shabana in the 63-minute clash between the countries' first strings.

"The achievement of these guys cannot be underestimated and winning such a closely-contested World Championships is fantastic," said Rider. "These are exceptional players of whom we are very, very proud."

Peter Nicol, a former World Open champion and double Commonwealth Games gold medallist, said at the time of England's victory: "This is my way of repaying England for all the support they have give me over the years - the programme, the funding, the coaching, and everything else.

"I really wanted this victory badly and am really pleased to have done it," added Nicol.

Picture caption: England Squash CEO Nick Rider (right) congratulates captain Peter Nicol and fellow England team-mates (L to R) Lee Beachill, Nick Matthew and James Willstrop.