Pakistan Down Hosts India In Chennai

Hosts India went down 3/0 to close rivals Pakistan in today's second qualifying round ties in the ICL Men's World Team Championship in the Indian city of Chennai.

With all teams playing in the order 3-1-2, it was the squad's 19-year-old third string Farhan Mehboob that put Pakistan into the lead, beating Mumbai's Siddharth Suchde 8-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-5, 11-5 in 51 minutes. The UK-based Indian No1 Saurav Ghosal levelled his match against Aamir Atlas Khan from two games down before the 17-year-old from Peshawar clinched victory for himself - and his team - after 82 minutes, winning 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 10-11 (1-3), 6-11, 11-9.

Mansoor Zaman secured maximum points for Pakistan when he beat Ritwik Bhattacharya 11-6, 11-9, 11-3. Tenth seeds India must now beat Kenya in Saturday's final qualifying tie in Pool G to keep alive their hopes of achieving their seeding, thus marking their highest finish for almost 30 years!

Defending champions England and former champions Australia began their 2007 campaigns today. Second seeds England swept to a 3/0 win over Spain in Pool B. Australia, eight times winners of the title since the event's inaugural year in 1967, defeated Scotland 3/0.

Favourites Egypt recorded their second 3/0 win in two days, beating Germany 3/0. But world number one Amr Shabana, crowned world champion last week in Bermuda, dropped a game against Simon Rosner before beating the former European Junior Champion 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-3.

Jonathon Power, the most successful North American squash player of all time, came out of retirement to lead Canada to a 3/0 win over Austria. The 33-year-old former world number one beat 21-year-old Austrian number one Aqeel Rehman 11-1, 11-2, 11-4.

2nd qualifying rounds - Pool A:

[1] EGYPT bt [16] GERMANY 3-0
Mohammed Abbas bt Moritz Dahmen 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 (25m)
Amr Shabana bt Simon Rosner 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-3 (37m)
Wael El Hindi bt Tim Weber 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-4, 11-2 (29m)

[17/24] FINLAND bt [25/29] RUSSIA 3-0
Henrik Mustonen bt Valery Litvinko 11-4, 11-0, 11-5 (23m)
Olli Tuominen bt Alexei Severinov 11-4, 11-2, 11-4 (19m)
Matias Tuomi bt Sergey Kostrikin 11-1, 11-3, 11-3 (15m)
Current standings: 1 Egypt, 2 Finland, 3 Germany, 4 Russia

Pool B:
[2] ENGLAND bt [17/24] SPAIN 3-0
Peter Barker bt Arturo Santo Tomas 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 (21m)
Nick Matthew bt David Vidal 11-7, 11-7, 11-10 (2-0) (25m)
Lee Beachill bt Alejandro Garbi Caro 11-4, 11-4, 11-10 (3-1) (25m)
Current standings: 1 England, 2 Hong Kong, 3 Spain

Pool C:
[3] FRANCE bt [14] USA 3-0
Julien Balbo bt Jamie Crombie 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 (32m)
Thierry Lincou bt Julian Illingworth 11-6, 11-6, 11-3 (30m)
Renan Lavigne bt Christopher Gordon 11-8, 7-11, 7-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-4 (68m)

[17/24] JAPAN bt [25/29] VENEZUELA 3-0
Ken Okada bt Luis Hernandes 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 (16m)
Jun Matsumoto bt Francisco Valecillo 11-8, 11-7, 11-2 (20m)
Takanori Shimizu bt Juan Pablo Sanchez 11-8, 11-4, 11-6 (20m)
Current standings: 1 France, 2 USA, 3 Japan, 4 Venezuela

Pool D:
[4] AUSTRALIA bt [17/24] SCOTLAND 3-0
Scott Arnold bt Jamie Macaulay 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 (28m)
Stewart Boswell bt Alan Clyne 11-3, 11-3, 11-6 (30m)
Cameron Pilley bt Harry Leitch 11-6, 11-5, 11-2 (27m)
Current standings: 1 Australia, 2 New Zealand, 3 Scotland

Pool E:
[17/24] KUWAIT bt [25/29] SRI LANKA 3-0
Nasser B Al-Ramzi bt Anura Nisshanka Hewage 11-4, 11-1, 11-2 (19m)
Bader Al Hussaini bt Saman Thilakaratna 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 (25m)
Abdullah Almezayen bt Navin Samarasinghe 11-2, 11-3, 11-3 (34m)
[5] MALAYSIA bt [12] SOUTH AFRICA 2-1
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan lost to Adrian Hansen 7-11, 8-11, 8-11 (36m)
Mohd Azlan Iskandar bt Jesse Engelbrecht 11-4, 11-5, 11-9 (31m)
Ong Beng Hee bt Stephen Coppinger 9-11, 11-5, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8 (68m)
Current standings: 1 Malaysia, 2 South Africa, 3 Kuwait, 4 Sri Lanka

Pool F:
[6] CANADA bt [17/24] AUSTRIA 3-0
Matthew Giuffre bt Andreas Freudensprung 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 11-6 (31m)
Jonathon Power bt Aqeel Rehman 11-1, 11-2, 11-4 (25m)
Shahier Razik bt Jakob Dirnberger 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4 (35m)
Current standings: 1 Ireland, 2 Canada, 3 Austria

Pool G:
[7] PAKISTAN bt [10] INDIA 3-0
Farhan Mehboob bt Siddharth Suchde 8-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-5, 11-5 (51m)
Aamir Atlas Khan bt Saurav Ghosal 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 10-11 (1-3), 6-11, 11-9 (82m)
Mansoor Zaman bt Ritwik Bhattacharya 11-6, 11-9, 11-3 (25m)
[17/24] KENYA bt [25/29] BERMUDA 3-0
Hartaj Bains bt Robert Maycock 9-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-4, 11-2 (34m)
Hardeep Reel bt Chase Toogood 11-4, 11-9, 11-4 (29m)
Rajdeep Bains bt Melrindo Caines 11-3, 11-1, 11-3 (21m)
Current standings: 1 Pakistan, 2 India, 3 Kenya, 4 Bermuda

Pool H:
[9] WALES bt [25/29] CHINESE TAIPEI 3-0
Jethro Binns bt Chuang Kai-Han 11-1, 11-6, 11-8 (18m)
David Evans bt Chang Chun-Yu 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 (24m)
Rob Sutherland bt Huang Hsuen-Chih 11-6, 11-4, 11-2 (18m)
[8] NETHERLANDS bt [17/24] SWEDEN 3-0
Piedro Schweertman bt Gustav Detter 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6 (39m)
Laurens Jan Anjema bt Christian Drakenberg 11-3, 11-2, 11-9 (32m)
Dylan Bennett bt Rasmus Hult 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5 (30m)
Current standings: 1 Netherlands, 2 Wales, 3 Sweden, 4 Chinese Taipei