Egypt & France To Contest World Championship Final In Denmark

Top seeds Egypt and third seeds France will meet in the final of the 22nd Men's World Team Championship in Denmark for the first time after dramatic victories over Australia and England, respectively, in the semi-finals of the biennial World Squash Federation event at Squash Center Denmark in the city of Odense.

England, bidding to win the title for the third time in a row, began well against their European rivals - third string Adrian Grant recovering from a game down to beat Frenchman Renan Lavigne 9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-3.

But the battle between the top strings was always going to be crucial - and so it proved to be when France's world number two Gregory Gaultier fought for 76 minutes to overcome his career-long rival James Willstrop, ranked five places below, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6, 12-10.

With the balance of power evenly poised, it was down to French stalwart Thierry Lincou and relative England newcomer Peter Barker to settle the account - and after leading 2/0 and 5-0 in the third, it looked as if the former world individual champion from Marseille had the winning post clearly in sight.

But Londoner Barker had famously come from behind to beat Lincou in the 2008 European Team Championship final - and mounted a mighty comeback to take the third game.

Lincou had more to offer, however, and reasserted his authority on the match - and, after exactly one hour, clinched victory by beating Barker 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8.

It was only the second time in the history of the championships that France had come out on top over four-time champions England - six years after the first, in the world semi-finals in Austria.

France, finalists in 2003 but yet to win the title, will face Egypt after the event favourites reached the final for the fourth time since 1999.

Boasting a squad featuring three of the world's top four players, Egypt could have been expected to steamroll any opposition. But Australia's world No17 Cameron Pilley stretched Egypt's third string Ramy Ashour for 60 minutes before the world No4 finally prevailed 13-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9.

Then Australian number one David Palmer called upon all his vast experience to extend world number one Karim Darwish for 86 minutes in the crucial second match. But the wily 28-year-old from Cairo eventually recovered from 2/1 down to win 11-6, 4-11, 14-16, 11-8, 11-5 - and put Egypt into the final.

Semi-finals:
[1] EGYPT bt [4] AUSTRALIA 3/0
Ramy Ashour bt Cameron Pilley 13-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9 (60m)
Karim Darwish bt David Palmer 11-6, 4-11, 14-16, 11-8, 11-5 (86m)
Amr Shabana bt Stewart Boswell 12-10, 11-7 (20m)

[3] FRANCE bt [2] ENGLAND 2/1
Renan Lavigne lost to Adrian Grant 11-9, 5-11, 4-11, 3-11 (52m)
Gregory Gaultier bt James Willstrop 12-10, 6-11, 11-6, 12-10 (76m)
Thierry Lincou bt Peter Barker 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8 (60m)

5th - 8th place play-offs:
[6] PAKISTAN bt [7] CANADA 3/0
Yasir Butt bt David Phillips 11-6, 11-9, 5-11, 4-11, 11-8 (43m)
Aamir Atlas Khan bt Shahier Razik 11-5, 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3 (62m)
Farhan Mehboob bt Shawn Delierre 11-8, 11-2 (18m)

[11] SOUTH AFRICA bt [8] ITALY 2/1
Jesse Engelbrecht lost to Amr Swelim 8-11, 6-11, 3-11 (28m)
Stephen Coppinger bt Davide Bianchetti 11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8 (61m)
Rodney Durbach bt Marcus Berrett 7-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6 (43m)

9th - 12th place play-offs:
[5] MALAYSIA bt [15] GERMANY 3/0
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan bt Raphael Kandra 11-5, 4-11, 11-8, 11-7 (42m)
Mohd Azlan Iskandar bt Jens Schoor 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 (30m)
Ong Beng Hee bt Stefan Leifels 11-13, 11-6, 11-6 (26m)

[10] NEW ZEALAND bt [12] USA 2/1
Martin Knight bt Preston Quick 11-3, 11-3, 11-8 (39m)
Kashif Shuja lost to Julian Illingworth 7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 10-12 (55m)
Campbell Grayson bt Gilly Lane 11-4, 11-9, 11-4 (40m)

13th - 16th place play-offs:
[17/24] SCOTLAND bt [14] IRELAND 2/1
Chris Small lost to Derek Ryan 11-6, 6-11, 8-11, 3-11 (42m)
Alan Clyne bt Liam Kenny 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-2 (52m)
Stuart Crawford bt Arthur Gaskin 8-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (42m)

[13] NETHERLANDS bt [17/24] KUWAIT 2/1
Rene Mijs lost to Bader Al Hussaini 9-11, 7-11, 11-3, 5-11 (40m)
Laurens Jan Anjema bt Abdullah Almezayen 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-6 (54m)
Piedro Schweertman bt Salem Fayez Mohammed 5-11, 11-2, 11-5, 11-1 (29m)

17th place play-off:
[16] HONG KONG bt [9] INDIA 2/1
Leo Au bt Gaurav Nandrajog 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-2 (45m)
Dick Lau bt Ritwik Bhattacharya 5-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-5, 11-6 (57m)
Max Lee lost to Harinder Pal Sandhu 6-11, 11-9, 8-11 (27m)

19th place play-off:
[17/24] FINLAND bt [17/24] DENMARK 2/1
Hameed Ahmed bt Danny Knudsen 11-3, 11-6, 11-7 (30m)
Olli Tuominen bt Rasmus Nielsen 9-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (38m)
Matias Tuomi lost to Kristian Frost Olesen 10-12, 11-4, 9-11 (43m)

21st place play-off:
[17/24] WALES bt [17/24] SWEDEN 2/1
Nic Birt bt Andre Vikstrom 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 (45m)
Rob Sutherland lost to Rasmus Hult 8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 8-11, 10-12 (74m)
Jethro Binns bt Carl-Johan Lofvenborg 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 (31m)

23rd place play-off:
[17/24] SPAIN bt [17/24] AUSTRIA 2/1
Eduardo Gonzales De Chaves bt Stefan Brauneis 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8 (51m)
David Vidal lost to Aqeel Rehman 8-11, 9-11, 9-11 (43m)
Alejandro Garbi Caro bt Jakob Dirnberger 5-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (55m)

25th - 28th place play-offs:
[25/28] JAPAN bt [25/28] SERBIA 2/1
Shimizu Takanori bt Ivan Djordjevic 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 (23m)
Yuta Fukui lost to Dennis Drenjovski 11-13, 12-14, 11-9, 4-11 (34m)
Tsukue Shinnosuke bt Daniel Zilic 11-3, 13-11, 12-10 (26m)

[25/28] KENYA bt [25/28] VENEZUELA 2/1
Hartaj Bains bt Juan Pablo Sanchez 11-8, 11-3, 11-3 (16m)
Hardeep Reel bt Francisco Valecillo 11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6 (30m)
Rajdeep Bains lost to Juan Pablo Rothie 8-11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-7, 11-13 (34m)

Final positions: 25 Japan, 26 Kenya, 27 Serbia, 28 Venezuela