Birthday Boy Alex Leads Wales To Dramatic World Championship Upset

PSA Tour veteran Alex Gough celebrated his 37th birthday in impressive style today in India when he led Wales to a 2/1 upset - the first of the tournament - over eighth seeds Netherlands in the final qualifying rounds of the ICL Men's World Team Championship in Chennai.

The former world No5 is currently enjoying a rich vein of form after reaching the quarter-finals of the World Open in Bermuda last week. Gough was taken to five games by Laurens Jan Anjema, but ultimately beat the Dutch number one - now ranked 20 in the world - 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7 in 87 minutes to put Wales in the lead.

Team-mate Jethro Binns, 23, from Abergavenny, clinched victory for the ninth seeds by beating Tom Hoevenaars 11-6, 11-9, 11-4. Netherlands gained a consolation point when Dylan Bennett beat former British Open champion David Evans 11-2, 11-8, 11-7.

Wales will now face 10th seeds India for a place in the quarter-finals, while Netherlands progress to meet Pakistan, the No7 seeds, in the other half of the last sixteen draw.

Title-holders England, the No2 seeds, beat Hong Kong 3/0 and now meet European rivals Germany for a place in the last eight. Favourites Egypt defeated Russia 3/0 and will now take on Hong Kong in the last sixteen.

RESULTS: ICL World Men's Team Squash Championship, Chennai, India

Final qualifying rounds - Pool A:
[1] EGYPT bt [25/29] RUSSIA 3-0
Karim Darwish bt Alexei Severinov 11-4, 11-2, 11-4 (16m)
Mohammed Abbas bt Valery Litvinko 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 (22m)
Wael El Hindi bt Sergey Kostrikin 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 (16m)
[16] GERMANY bt [17/24] FINLAND 2-1
Simon Rosner bt Olli Tuominen 11-8, 4-11, 10-11 (0-2), 11-10 (5-3), 11-3 (62m)
Johannes Voit lost to Henrik Mustonen 8-11, 6-11, 4-11 (28m)
Tim Weber bt Matias Tuomi 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-6 (60m)
Final positions: 1 Egypt, 2 Germany, 3 Finland, 4 Russia

Pool B:
[2] ENGLAND bt [15] HONG KONG 3-0
James Willstrop bt Dick Lau 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 (17m)
Peter Barker bt Anson Kwong 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 (23m)
Lee Beachill bt Max Lee 11-6, 11-2, 11-10 (2-0) (42m)
Final positions: 1 England, 2 Hong Kong, 3 Spain

Pool C:
[3] FRANCE bt [25/29] VENEZUELA 3-0
Gregory Gaultier bt Francisco Valecillo 11-4, 11-6, 11-7 (14m)
Julien Balbo bt Richard Prieto 11-3, 11-4, 11-6 (23m)
Renan Lavigne bt Juan Pablo Sanchez 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (14m)
[14] USA bt [17/24] JAPAN 3-0
Julian Illingworth bt Jun Matsumoto 11-10 (2-0), 11-4, 11-7 (28m)
Richard Chin bt Yuta Fukui 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 (26m)
Christopher Gordon bt Takanori Shimizu 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 (54m)
Final positions: 1 France, 2 USA, 3 Japan, 4 Venezuela

Pool D:
[4] AUSTRALIA bt [13] NEW ZEALAND 3-0
David Palmer bt Kashif Shuja 11-4, 11-2, 11-6 (24m)
Cameron Pilley bt Martin Knight 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 (28m)
Stewart Boswell bt Joshua Greenfield 11-5, 11-3, 11-8 (21m)
Final positions: 1 Australia, 2 New Zealand, 3 Scotland

Pool E:
[5] MALAYSIA bt [25/29] SRI LANKA 3-0
Mohd Azlan Iskandar bt Saman Thilakaratna 11-6, 11-2, 11-5 (20m)
Muhd Asyraf Azan bt Kavinda Cooray 11-3, 11-1, 11-5 (15m)
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan bt Navin Samarasinghe 5-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-1 (28m)
[12] SOUTH AFRICA bt [17/24] KUWAIT 2-1
Jesse Engelbrecht bt Bader Al Hussaini 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 (47m)
Adrian Hansen bt Nasser B Al-Ramzi 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (30m)
Stephen Coppinger lost to Abdullah Almezayen 11-3, 10-11 (1-3), 10-11 (0-2), 3-11 (76m)
Final positions: 1 Malaysia, 2 South Africa, 3 Kuwait, 4 Sri Lanka

Pool F:
[6] CANADA bt [11] IRELAND 2-1
Jonathon Power bt Liam Kenny 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 (40m)
Matthew Giuffre bt Derek Ryan 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7 (62m)
Shahier Razik lost to John Rooney 4-11, 2-11, 11-7, 11-3, 8-11 (60m)
Final positions: 1 Canada, 2 Ireland, 3 Austria

Pool G:
[7] PAKISTAN bt [25/29] BERMUDA 3-0
Mansoor Zaman bt Chase Toogood 11-4, 11-1, 11-6 (23m)
Yasir Butt bt Robert Maycock 11-4, 11-8, 11-2 (18m)
Farhan Mehboob bt Melrindo Caines 11-2, 11-0, 11-4 (15m)
[10] INDIA bt [17/24] KENYA 3-0
Ritwik Bhattacharya bt Hardeep Reel 11-4, 11-10 (2-0), 11-10 (2-0) (35m)
Gaurav Nandrajog bt Otto Kwach 11-5, 11-6, 11-9 (24m)
Siddharth Suchde bt Hartaj Bains 11-2, 11-4, 11-3 (20m)
Final positions: 1 Pakistan, 2 India, 3 Kenya, 4 Bermuda

Pool H:
[17/24] SWEDEN bt [25/29] CHINESE TAIPEI 3-0
Christian Drakenberg bt Chang Chun-Yu 11-1, 11-1, 11-3 (16m)
Gustav Detter bt Chen Ching-Han 11-2, 11-2, 11-1 (18m)
Rasmus Hult bt Huang Hsuen-Chih 11-3, 11-2, 11-2 (22m)
[9] WALES bt [8] NETHERLANDS 2-1
Alex Gough bt Laurens Jan Anjema 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7 (87m)
Jethro Binns bt Tom Hoevenaars 11-6, 11-9, 11-4 (47m)
David Evans lost to Dylan Bennett 2-11, 8-11, 7-11 (22m)
Final positions: 1 Wales, 2 Netherlands, 3 Sweden, 4 Chinese Taipei

Last sixteen draw (for positions 1-16):
[1] EGYPT v [15] HONG KONG
[9] WALES v [10] INDIA
[4] AUSTRALIA v [14] USA
[6] CANADA v [12] SOUTH AFRICA
[5] MALAYSIA v [11] IRELAND
[3] FRANCE v [13] NEW ZEALAND
[7] PAKISTAN v [8] NETHERLANDS
[2] ENGLAND v [16] GERMANY

Last sixteen draw (for positions 17-29):
[17/24] FINLAND bye
[17/24] SWEDEN v [25/29] BERMUDA
[17/24] JAPAN bye
[17/24] AUSTRIA v [25/29] VENEZUELA
[17/24] KUWAIT v [25/29] RUSSIA
[17/24] SCOTLAND v [25/29] CHINESE TAIPEI
[17/24] KENYA v [25/29] SRI LANKA
[17/24] SPAIN bye