Egypt Seeded To Reclaim World Team Title In Denmark

Defending champions England are seeded to reach the final of the 2009 Men's World Team Championship in Denmark next month - but Egypt are expected to win the title for the first time for ten years, according to the seedings announced today by the World Squash Federation.

The championship, in its 22nd edition since the inaugural event in 1967, will be held in Denmark for the first time, from 27 September to 3 October. The venue will be the Squash Center Denmark in Odense, the birth city of Hans Christian Andersen.

Led by world number one Karim Darwish, Egypt will be keen to make amends for a shock fourth place finish in the previous championship (in 2007) as they bid to repeat their 1999 success at this year's event.

England, bidding to become the first country since Pakistan in 1987 to win the biennial title three times in a row, will be led by the new British Open champion Nick Matthew. The world No5 clinched the title for the second time this week in the event's first all-English final for 70 years.

France and Australia are seeded three and four, respectively. France, runners-up in 2003, have yet to win the title - whilst Australia, beaten finalists in 2007, boast eight title triumphs between 1967 and 2003.

Six-time champions Pakistan are seeded six - behind Malaysia - and thus expected to record their best finish since 1997.

Italy, who will be making their first appearance in the event since 2003, are named as eighth seeds. Led by Davide Bianchetti, the Italian squad will include former Englishman Marcus Berrett and ex-Egyptian Amr Swelim - both of whom will be making their debuts for their new country.

Serbia will be making their debut in the championship which was launched 42 years ago.

Pools line-up:

POOL A: [1] EGYPT; [16] HONG KONG; KUWAIT; SERBIA
POOL B: [2] ENGLAND; [15] GERMANY; AUSTRIA; JAPAN
POOL C: [3] FRANCE; [14] IRELAND; DENMARK;
POOL D: [4] AUSTRALIA; [13] NETHERLANDS; WALES;
POOL E: [5] MALAYSIA; [12] USA; FINLAND
POOL F: [6] PAKISTAN; [11] SOUTH AFRICA; SWEDEN; KENYA
POOL G: [7] CANADA; [10] NEW ZEALAND; SPAIN
POOL H: [8] ITALY; [9] INDIA; SCOTLAND; VENEZUELA